GM warehouse set to drive exports into Africa

General Motors South Africa
(GMSA) has opened the
doors to an export drive for
GM and Isuzu brands into
Africa with the opening of
a 38 000 m², R250-million
Parts Distribution Centre
(PDC) within sight of the
port of Ngqura.
“Our main customers
are the GM dealerships
throughout Southern Africa,
but growth into other
sub-Saharan countries is
definitely on the cards, and
this facility places us in a
strong position to support
this,” says John Astbury,
GM South Africa’s vice
president of after sales.
Isuzu announced at
the opening of the PDC
in the Coega Industrial
Development Zone that
it would be expanding its
sales efforts into Africa.
FTW understands
that the focus will be
on commercial vehicles,
powered by Isuzu diesel
engines designed for less
sophisticated developing
world conditions. General
Motors has been given the
rights to market Isuzu into
some African markets by
the Japanese company for
the first time.
The availability of
parts through the new
PDC will support GM
marketing efforts in Africa,
Malcolm Gould, GMSA
vice president of sales and
marketing told FTW.
GM and other suppliers of
new vehicles are competing
against imports of secondhand
vehicles, which are
effectively being dumped
on the African market after
being taxed off the roads
due to their age mainly in
the East.
The disadvantage of the
cheap vehicles is that they
have no dealer or parts
support – which GM sees as
an opportunity.
According to Astbury,
GM currently processes
around 5 500 order lines
per day – at present from
both the new facility and
the old warehouses in Port
Elizabeth. Annual turnover
of the GM parts business is
expected to “exceed
R1,2-billion” in 2010.
Once fully operational,
the facility will ship around
300 tons of parts a month.
Stock management is
through a system developed
by GMSA, and is a mix
of manual and electronic
controls. Over 3 000
man hours were invested
in training the team for
the PDC, which started
operating in August this
year.