By Adedapo Adesanya
The South African auto industry has received a big boost with the investment of $1.05 billion by Ford Motor Company to upgrade its factory located in Silverton, near Pretoria.
The fund would be used to increase the automaker’s annual capacity by almost 20 per cent to 200,000 units and create about 1,200 direct jobs.
In a statement on Tuesday, the American auto giant described this investment as the “biggest” in its 97-year history in South Africa and “one of the largest ever in the local automotive industry.”
According to the operations director of Ford’s International Market Group, Mr Andrea Cavallaro, the outlay will support the production of a new Ranger pickup truck starting in 2022, both for domestic sales and exports.
The move comes after Ford announced in January that it is ceasing production in Brazil after a century of building cars there, closing three factories and cutting 5,000 workers.
The US-based company also eliminated thousands of positions in Europe as part of a sweeping $11 billion global reorganisation and culled about 1,400 salaried employees in the US in 2020.
Ford’s fresh investment and jobs will come as a welcome boost to South Africa, where almost a third of the workforce is unemployed.
The country has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with lockdowns and a resurgence of infections weighing on activity, and 2020 economic output probably contracted the most in at least nine decades.
Production at the Silverton plant, which also makes the Everest SUV, will include VW pickups as part of a strategic alliance between the carmakers.
The partnership agreement was signed in June, almost two years after it was first announced, and was eventually expanded to include electric and self-driving cars.
Ford also aims to make the Silverton plant entirely energy self-sufficient and carbon neutral by 2024, Mr Cavallaro said.
The moves will help keep the plant operating in the event of one of South Africa’s frequent power outages.
Aduragbemi Omiyale 
Modupe Gbadeyanka