Volkswagen of South Africa

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Volkswagen of South Africa (Pty.) Ltd.
legal form Property Limited
founding 1966
Seat Uitenhage , South Africa
Number of employees 5600 (as of 2015)
Branch Automobile manufacturer Commercial vehicle manufacturer
Website www.vw.co.za

Volkswagen of South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. is an automobile manufacturer based in Uitenhage , South Africa .

history

As early as the 1930s, the manufacturer Studebaker had explored the possibilities of an assembly plant in South Africa. In 1947 an assembly plant was built in Uitenhage - near Port Elizabeth.

Around the same time, Klaus von Oertzen - a former executive member of Auto Union - tried to get DKW models assembled in South Africa. Despite his considerable commitment, this attempt was just as unsuccessful as his first attempt to export Volkswagen models to South Africa. Only after renewed efforts and lengthy negotiations was the first Beetle assembled on August 31, 1951 at South Africa Motor Assemblers and Distributors (SAMAD) in Uitenhage.

Volkswagen acquired a blocking minority in SAMAD in 1956. At the same time von Oertzen became the chairman of the board of SAMAD (he was nominally supposed to be followed by Heinrich Nordhoff in 1963 ). In 1966, SAMAD was renamed Volkswagen of South Africa Limited at an extraordinary general meeting . In 1966, SAMAD, in which Volkswagenwerk AG held 63% of the shares at the time, had around 2,460 employees and sold 21,888 vehicles.

With 36,315 vehicles, Volkswagen became the best-selling brand in South Africa for the first time in 1973.

In 1974 the plant then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group .

In 2011, the plant in Uitenhage was the only plant outside of Europe that exported vehicles, alongside the subsidiary in Mexico. From 2008 to 2013, Volkswagen was the market leader in the South African passenger car market.

In 2015, Volkswagen of South Africa had 5600 employees.

Models

Citi Golf

Studebaker production, which began in 1947 or 1948, was significantly expanded in 1949 to include the Austin A40 , which had previously been built by National Motor Assemblers . Auto Union also had SAMAD produce. The Beetle, which has been assembled since 1951, was the best-selling vehicle in South Africa from 1958 to 1964 and in five other years until 1979. A total of 288 353 or 290,922 vehicles of this model series were produced in South Africa. Around 120,000 of these vehicles were exported to neighboring countries.

With the SP 1600 , the world's most powerful series-produced Beetle rolled off the production line in South Africa from 1976 to 1978. It made 58 DIN HP (67 bhp) from 1.6 liters displacement with double carburetors.

Since the end of the Austin assembly in 1955, the van was also assembled in South Africa. It was to be produced in 264,934 units by 2002.

In 1957 the VW Karmann-Ghia was added, in 1963 the model range was expanded to include the type 3 (sedan and variant, from 1965 also the hatchback variant). The production of Studebaker models ended with the dissolution of the parent company in 1965.

From 1968 to 1973 the first model of the Audi brand to be produced in South Africa was the Super 90 in 3,640 units, followed by the Audi 100.

On the basis of a contract with the Lawsons Motor Group , Volkswagen produced Volvo models from 1973 to 1975. From 1976, Jeep brand vehicles were also produced.

The successor to the Beetle was the VW Golf in 1978 . The first generation was manufactured from 1984 in parallel to the successors as the Volkswagen Citi Golf . By August 2009, 517,384 A1 models (ie Golf 1 and Citi Golf together) and 377,484 Citi Golf models were produced.

Polo playa

The Jetta was assembled and marketed as Fox in South Africa .

The one millionth vehicle (including all third-party makes) was celebrated in 1986, the one millionth Volkswagen just one year later.

Seat models were assembled in South Africa from 2006 to 2008. The Seat Ibiza (6K) was assembled and sold in South Africa as the Polo Playa between 1998 and 2002 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Volkswagen: VW expands business in South Africa. In: Wirtschaftswoche. August 28, 2015, accessed November 22, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Proud History at www.vw.co.za.
  3. ^ A b Claudia Nieke: Volkswagen am Kap. Internationalization and Networking in South Africa 1950 to 1966. 2010, accessed February 18, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Tanja Van Wie: Celebrating 60 Volkswagen years ( Memento from September 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), brochure from Volkswagen South Africa from 2011.
  5. ^ Wolfsburg News. Friday Packet for November 21, 2017.
  6. ^ A b M. Compton / TJ Gallwey: Motor Assemblies Limited. A small South African Assembly Plant that became a major manufacturer , 2009.
  7. ↑ a b c Out of Uitenhage. South African Beetle coronation: the Volkswagen SP 1600 , on Volkswagen Classic .
  8. ↑ Goodbye Citi Golf ( Memento from October 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), on: Topcar.co.za from November 3, 2009.
  9. ↑ SEAT Ibiza (6K) on Autocade.net .