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19 Mar 2012

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies says that the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) has contributed positively to the motor industry in terms of production and export values.

Minister Davies was speaking at the launch of the Eastern Cape Automotive Sector Support Initiative that that was held in Port Elizabeth. The Eastern Cape Automotive Sector Support Initiative will see a joint collaboration amongst stakeholders to respond to opportunities and challenges in the sector.

‘Production volumes have grown from about 389 000 units in 1995 to a peak of 587 719 units in 2006 before dipping to 373 923 units in 2009, bouncing back to 532 545 units in 2011,’ said Davies.

Minister Davies added that ‘the sectoral trade balance continues to be negative due to reliance on importing of OEM components. He pointed an opportunity to increase the local content in domestically assembled vehicles coupled with an expansion of the component export basket’.

He also announced the publishing and implementation of guidelines of the Automotive Production Development Program (APDP) that comes into operation in 2013 (to replace the current MIDP). The Minister further indicated support measures for the Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle manufacturers, in addition to the public procurement measures for buses as published in December 2011.

Eastern Cape MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Mcebisi Jonas outlined the importance of the cluster as means of ensuring a coherent and integrated public sector approach to the automotive sector in the province.

“Today marks the start of a process of on-going collaboration between the public and private sectors in the Eastern Cape to jointly formulate responses and implement key programmes in the automotive sector. The strategic initiatives agreed upon include logistics; supplier development, localisation and incubation; and skills development,” said Jonas.

Stakeholders (government, labour and industry) signed a pledge to support the Eastern Cape Automotive Sector Support Initiative.

Some of the key initiatives to be realised by the work of the cluster include: corridor development (road and rail) between (Nelson Mandela and Buffalo City), Eastern Cape and Gauteng (road and rail); undertaking skills and needs audits within the sector to quantify skills requirements (labour market predictive model); collaboration with the Durban Auto Cluster (DAC) in implementing the Automotive Supplier Competitiveness Improvement Project.

Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
19 Mar 2012

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