Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 19-05-2017
After a 91-year history, General Motors says it intends to pull out of the South African market.
GM which set up operations in 1926, will cease production of the locally-built Utility as it pulls out of the country at the end of 2017, while Isuzu will take over the Struandale plant in Port Elizabeth.
Isuzu also plans to set up its own South African dealer network.
General Motors, meanwhile intends to pull the plug on its local operations, with the Chevrolet brand set to be taken off the market by end of the year.
The move results in an end to the production of the locally manufactured Chevrolet Utility bakkie and Spark hatchback, but imports of the Cruze, Captiva and Trailblazer will cease.
GMSA’s president and managing director Ian Nicolls says the decision was not influenced by any local economic short-term considerations at all.
“It was a global decision by General Motors as they regularly do in terms of reviewing their overall global business strategy and reached the conclusion that investment in South Africa would not provide GM with a strong return required to support GM’s global business strategy.”
While there are concerns that a number of people will lose their jobs due to General Motors (GM) shutting down its operation in the country, Nicolls says they have set up a support centre to deal with affected employees and their representatives through the required consultative forums.
But the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) says GM acted unilaterally and did not inform the union of this decision.
General Secretary Irvin Jim says they will be consulting lawyers regarding GM’s announcement to pull out of South Africa.
“This is the second time that GM is pulling out of South Africa‚ and as NUMSA we smell a rat. We suspect that the shareholders got a very good deal at the expense of the workers.”
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