Hyundai opens first car assembly plant in South Africa
Hyundai is a very popular brand in South Africa, so it just makes sense that the South Korean car manufacturing company, Hyundai, started production of its first assembly plant in South Africa. The plant will start off by building medium-sized commercial trucks.
The Benoni plant, situated in South Africa’s economic hub Gauteng, has been assembling trucks since July, ahead of a formal launch in September, Deon Sonnekus said.
“This is the first time that Hyundai has set up an assembly plant in South Africa,” Sonnekus said, adding that the company expects to also assemble pick-up trucks from next year.
As the continent’s leading automotive manufacturer, South Africa aims to build 1.2 million vehicles by 2020. However, strikes and the slow economic growth in recent months have curbed output at the local plants of some of the world’s main carmakers, including Ford, Toyota and BMW.