Japanese motor company Isuzu’s R1.2bn investment in making the new D-Max bakkie in SA is “a welcome contribution to efforts to rebuild our economy”, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.
Production of the seventh-generation vehicle began this month at the Gqeberha vehicle assembly plant of Isuzu Motors SA. It was the first major investment since the Japanese parent bought the local assets of General Motors (GM) after it disinvested from SA at the end of 2017.
GM had previously built the vehicle in SA under licence.
Speaking at the official unveiling of the vehicle at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium, Ramaphosa said the Isuzu investment, which follows others in the past two years by Ford, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, showed “renewed confidence” in SA’s growth prospects.
Isuzu CEO Billy Tom said the investment had secured nearly 1,000 jobs at the company and created an additional R2.8bn of business for local components suppliers.
The D-Max, once known as the Isuzu KB, has been built in SA since 1980. Tom said Isuzu would continue to build the sixth-generation D-Max alongside its successor.
The old model was finding growing demand in African export markets and it made sense to keep building it for customers requiring a less sophisticated product.
The manufacturing mix of the two models would be determined by demand, but Tom said the new model was aimed initially at the SA market. The old model would be cheaper, he added.
Unlike other SA-made bakkies, D-Max exports are all to the rest of Africa.
Consequently, Isuzu SA is under less pressure than most competitors to build electric-battery models. “We don’t expect to build electric versions of the new D-Max during its lifespan, but we may well do with the next one,” said Tom.
The typical lifespan of a bakkie model is about 10 years. The Isuzu assembly plant has annual capacity to build 70,000 vehicles. Last year, it produced about 23,000 — the same as in 2019 before Covid-19.
While Tom sees future demand growth from SA, the bigger potential lies in the rest of Africa. Isuzu SA, which already exports D-Max kits for reassembly in Kenya, recently signed a memorandum of understanding to do the same in Ghana.
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