The new Volkswagen Truck and Buses operation in South Africa has formed an innovative partnership with Mzantsi Truck & Bus, a new Black-owned company started by a group of Volkswagen employees.
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According to the agreement, Mzantsi Truck & Bus will manage a new production facility in Port Elizabeth with help from Volkswagen.
Mzantsi will partner Volkswagen in logistics, assembly and maintenance in this ground-breaking partnership for the South African motor vehicle industry. It beat nine other local and foreign bidders to win the deal.
All Mzantsi shareholders are residents of Madiba Bay and have been employees of Volkswagen South Africa for many years.
Within a few months, the new assembly line will begin making right-hand drive buses using CKD kits shipped from VW’s truck and buses plant here in Brazil. Next year, the plant will start truck assembly, again from Brazilian kits. Capacity will reach 1,000 vehicles a year.
Volkswagen has built trucks and buses in Brazil since 1981 and, in 2004, began similar operations in Mexico.
Rogério Louro
