To support its growing volumes in the African market, Tata Motors has opened a new plant in South Africa for the assembly of commercial vehicles.

The plant in Rosslyn, north of Pretoria, has seen an investment of Rs 72 crore (110 million South African Rand) and has the initial capacity to manufacture 3,650 vehicles a year. In its current format, it can assemble light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles in the 4-50 tonne range, from semi-knocked down kits.

The facility was inaugurated on Friday by South Africa's Minister of Trade & Industry, Dr Rob Davies, apart from Mr Noel N. Tata, Managing Director, Tata International, Mr Carl-Peter Forster, Group CEO and Managing Director, Tata Motors and Mr Raman Dhawan, Managing Director, Tata Africa.

“Tata Motors (SA), Tata Motors' joint venture with Tata Africa Holding, today formally opened its assembly plant in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The establishment of the plant is a major step towards bolstering the operations and presence of the Tata Group in South Africa.

“The capacity can be further expanded as required. To begin with, it is assembling two models, the Tata LPT 813 and Tata LPT 1518, both already popular in South Africa,” a company statement said.

Spread over an area of 34,500 sq. metres, the plant has been awarded the ISO 9001 accreditation by Bureau Veritas, South Africa. It has been built over a period of 18 months and employs built-in flexibilities to assemble large numbers and different variants in mixed mode production.

Global footprint

“With a comprehensive product portfolio, Tata Motors is now at a stage where it can consolidate its international business in its chosen markets. The assembly plant in South Africa is an expression of that resolve. Step by step, we shall expand the footprint of our international business matching markets and products,” said Mr Carl-Peter Forster.

The automaker said that the entire capital outlay, encompassing civil and plant engineering work for the facility, has been sourced from and carried out by South African suppliers and companies. In addition, all major equipment, like heavy duty cranes, inversion mechanisms and paint booth, have also been sourced from South African vendors. The entire workforce of the plant is from South Africa.

“Training, skill transfer and development of local workforce is one of the top priorities of the Tata Group in South Africa. Tata has an already established state-of-the-art technical training centre in Germiston, Johannesburg, operating since 2006, for skill development of dealer mechanics in South Africa and various other countries in the continent,” the company said.

Tata Motors, a $27-billion company, started exports to South Africa in 1998, with commercial vehicles, followed by passenger vehicles in 2004. Currently there are over 20 commercial vehicle models and five passenger vehicle models that are sold in that market. With a total 85 dealerships in the country, the company has thus far exported over 32,000 commercial vehicles and 31,000 passenger vehicles.

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