President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday visit the Toyota South Africa production plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, to officiate the launch of the Toyota Cross Hybrid vehicle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He will be accompanied by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, Ebrahim Patel, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala and the Mayor of eThekwini Municipality, Mxolisi Kaunda.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The launch of the Cross Hybrid vehicle flows from Toyota\u2019s investment commitment made at the 2019 South Africa Investment Conference.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In a statement on Monday, the Presidency said this commitment now sees Toyota producing its first generation of hybrid electric vehicles on a South African assembly line.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The vehicles will also be manufactured for export to 40 countries on the African continent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernment\u2019s South Africa Automotive Masterplan (SAAM) and Automotive Production and Development Programme have catalysed and enabled continued investment in local vehicle and components production.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGuided by its Vision 2035, the South African Automotive Masterplan encompasses a globally competitive and transformed industry that actively contributes to the sustainable development of South Africa\u2019s productive economy and creates prosperity for industry stakeholders and the broader society,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The SAAM 2035 objectives include: production of 1% of global production projected to be 1.4 million units in 2035; expanding local content in vehicles assembled in South Africa to 60% from 40%; increasing employment; improving manufacturing competitiveness levels to that of leading competitor levels, and transforming the industry across the value chain in areas of identified opportunity and deepening value addition.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The automotive sector has remained one of South Africa\u2019s most investment-intensive industrial sectors with seven light-vehicle producers investing a record R9.2 billion in 2020, awhile the component sector attracted R2.4 billion during the same period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Source: South African Government News Agency<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Tuesday visit the Toyota South Africa production plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, to officiate the launch of the Toyota Cross Hybrid vehicle.He will be accompanied by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister, Ebrahim Pa…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n