India car maker to build new plant at trade port

Durban — KwaZulu-Natal-based economist Professor Bonke Dumisa has lauded Mahindra’s business expansion in the country as good news for economic growth and job creation for the province and Durban in particular.

The India-based car manufacturing giant in its 20th-anniversary investment in SA on Tuesday, announced that it would build a 14 000m² assembly plant at the Dube Trade Port, north of Durban.

Dumisa said this was the kind of investment that the country and province needed because expansion meant that the company was happy with the response from consumers to its product.

“It’s great news for the province and the City. This is the kind of investment that the country needs. It’s a sign of growth for Mahindra as well and good news for job creation in the province,” said Dumisa.

He added that Mahindra was already spreading its wings in Africa with a deal to supply the Lesotho army and police with bakkies. The event was graced by India’s high commissioner to South Africa Shri Prabhat Kumar as well as the country’s consul-general to Durban, Dr Thelma John David.

The high commissioner congratulated Mahindra on its expansion and South Africa, saying that India and South Africa were major trading partners and nowhere was this more evident than in the automotive industry.

“Mahindra is a perfect example of the increase in trade and investment between the two countries, growing in local popularity while constantly increasing its investment in South Africa,” said the high commissioner.

Speaking at the launch, company CEO Rajesh Gupta said the new assembly facility will anchor Mahindra’s next growth phase in South Africa. He said the assembly facility has allowed the company to not only meet the growing local demand for Pickup bakkies models, but to also serve the needs of the South African bakkie buyer. Gupta said the announcement coincided with the company’s 20th anniversary and a milestone of producing 20 000 cars a year which was achieved earlier this month.

“Mahindra is the second-largest seller of single-cab bakkies, as well as the fourth-largest bakkie retailer overall. This is a far cry from the early days when Mahindra sold its Bolero and later its Scorpio SUV through a small number of local dealers,” said Gupta.

The company first opened its doors in October 2004, producing 200 cars with 20 staff. In 2018, it built a small car assembly plant at the Dube Tradeport, where it started producing 800 cars a month and employed 90 workers.

The new plant is expected to be completed in 2025 and would produce 1 000 cars a month with added new staff. This plant was also expected to create more jobs indirectly in the automotive industry.

It is currently on a semi-knocked down (SKD) basis, meaning it is assembling half-made cars from India. However, with the expansion the company is aiming for, there will be a completely knocked down (CKD) plant where the full car would be assembled locally.

The company has warehouses in all nine provinces and has recently increased its investment to keep pace with its growth by opening a new multi-storey parts warehouse in Johannesburg, a new high-tech training facility in Centurion and a special fitment centre in Kempton Park.

SA and India enjoy a very good relationship as both are members of BRICS, a political and economic bloc outside the EU.

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