became a major Manufacturer
Foreword
This
memoir relates the post war history of the South African Motor
Industry as seen primarily from the involvement of Motor Assemblies
Ltd, just one of the several manufacturing plants that comprised the
industry. To-day MA has become the manufacturing arm of Toyota SA
Ltd.
It
is a personal story told by some of the participants and concerns
their and others’ place in the history of the industry. Most of
the facts and figures are well known and have appeared elsewhere but
this time the telling should be without Company hype.
However,
the events that occurred rather than the participants provide a much
more important picture of how the world’s motor manufacturers
reacted to both economic and political pressures over the years.
South Africa was very much atypical of the industrial developments
spawned through the medium of the motor industry.
Not
all those great industrial names featured in this story survived.
© M Compton & T J Gallwey 2009
From the
time of the 1920's the American car had shown itself superior to others in
withstanding the Colonial conditions to be found in Africa and Australia. First
in 1924 Ford, and then in 1926 General Motors, began car assembly in Port
Elizabeth to supply the South African demand. This
development has to be seen against the condition of the roads, if that is what
one could have called them. In the 1940s there were very few major roads that
were tarred so a system of “National Roads” was set up after WWII with the aim
of rectifying this situation. But even by 1971, of the 171 000km of
Provincial roads, only 20 000km were surfaced and of the 10 000km of
National roads linking the major cities there were still 1 000km without
tarmac. The American cars not only had high ground clearances but their design
was also uncomplicated and they were easy to repair in primitive conditions.
The establishment of these plants was based not only on the products, such as the Model T’s
suitability, but also on the economics of Imperial Preference, since in reality
the right hand drive imports came from Canada. It also reduced freight volume
by locally assembling from what became known
as CKD kits while to minimize inland freight these assembly plants were built
at the coast. In the 1920’s it is also difficult to
think of a European car that could compete in terms of value for money let
alone practicality. Further assembly plants were delayed by the impact
of the 1930’s depression but as the effects wore off so other US manufacturers
planned for their expansion in the SA market. However, the participation of
their importers was very necessary as each held not only a specific sales
territory but also their own Import Permits. In the post-World War II period
these relationships were to be vital.
Prior to
the second World War the Chrysler agents in the Cape (Atkinsons) and Orange
Free State (Oates) decided to build an assembly plant at Paarden Eiland near
Cape Town in order to supply their sales areas but the outbreak of the war
delayed the completion of the plant until 1941.
At much
the same time the Hudson and Willys importers, Stanley Motors, commissioned a
plant at Natalspruit near Alberton in the Transvaal to be known as National
Motor Assemblers. After the plant’s post war opening, the Austin A40 was added
for a short period until displaced in 1950 by Peugeot and Rootes products, for
which Stanley Motors had also become the
distributors. This was the first plant to be built away from the coast and,
although in the area of the biggest vehicle market, the Transvaal, it was not
seen as the most cost effective location for an industry dependent upon
imported material. Things were, in time, to change.
In the
early 1940's the Chrysler Agents for Natal, McCarthy Rodway (Dodge) and
Forsdick Motors (Chrysler, Plymouth and De Soto) also came to the conclusion
that they too would have to start local assembly if their Chrysler products
were to continue to sell well. Atkinson
Oates also invested in the plant. The Americans then designed a plant for them
to be located in Durban and to be called simply enough just Motor Assemblies
Ltd (MA).
The MA company
was registered in 1941 and authorised to buy five acres of land at Lerwick
Road, Wentworth but, due to the war, no plant could be built and the land was
leased to the Government. Plant construction started in 1946 and the first
General Manager, Hank Lisseman was not unnaturally an American and his main
responsibility was to oversee the transfer of assembly technology. Apart from
regular Chrysler, Dodge and De Soto sedans a range of Dodge and De Soto
Pick-ups were also to be produced. Production commenced in 1948 and a total of
3418 units were built in that year.
In 1947
construction started of a plant for the assembly of Studebakers at Uitenhage
north of Port Elizabeth and the first unit left the production line in 1947
while two years later production of the Austin A40 was transferred to it from National Motor Assemblers and in 1951
the VW Beetle was added. In 1956 the plant name was changed to that of the Volkswagen franchise holders South
African Motor Assemblers and Distributors (SAMAD).
Another
immediate post war plant, this time at East London was started as a contract
assembler, Car Distributors and Assemblers (CDA), with Packard, Nash, Renault
and Standard models to produce.
The
position of most of the European manufacturers
was generally similar to that of Chrysler where a number of different dealers
each imported directly for their Province-based sales
territories and contracting for the assembly of their own imports. For GM and
Ford the situation was rather different as they had dealers in almost every town, large and small, as well as country
communities. This was particularly important in providing support to customers
such as farmers who ran not only their cars but also pick-up trucks and three
tonners.
When the
various company boards for both pre- and immediate post-war assembly plant
construction gave their go ahead for the investments
they could not have realised that the days of popularity for the large American
car were shortly to end. The improved road
network of the 1950’s was no longer so
"colonial" and car ownership was increasing amongst the middle and
lower income urban population. The European car had also improved greatly in
reliability and ride so that names such as Vauxhall started to replace that of
Chevrolet and Ford Dagenham products out-sold those from Ford of Canada.
South
Africa was also a member of the Sterling Currency Area, which, when the Pound
was devalued in 1949 became an important consideration
for a buyer as well as in the issuing of Import Permits. In 1947 a Ford V8 cost
£504 when a side-valve 950cc Morris Minor was £475 but after the devaluation
the Ford was £650 so the Morris became more interesting, in particular to those who lived in the towns.
But
Chrysler, at that stage, had no European make, nor partner and were in any case
facing the competitive threat from the Big Two of Detroit. However, it so happened
that McCarthy Rodway also held the franchises for Nuffield products - Morris,
MG, Wolseley and Riley - for Natal, as did one of the other MA shareholders,
Connocks, for the Transvaal. It was natural that, to offset the declining sales
of American cars, and to increase
Nuffield sales and keep the assembly lines full, the first Morris products came off the Motor Assemblies
production line in 1949.
In the
aftermath of the Second World War various countries in the New World started to
formulate policies for both industrial development and self-sufficiency. The most far reaching of these was
arguably to be found in the Argentine and Brazil but India, Australia and South
Africa decided to incorporate similar policies albeit with different
approaches. The need to conserve foreign exchange and
the growth of Nationalism had in each case given impetus to localisation as
well as the realisation that in difficult times, such as had been experienced
in WWII, when imports of cars had completely dried-up, traditional suppliers
should not be trusted.
In the
1930’s, shortly after GM and Ford started their assembly operations, a small
component supply industry had established itself producing tyres, glass,
batteries and interior trim materials. These industries had become very
strategic at the outbreak of war, as had the production of steel by Iscor. It
is not surprising therefore that after 1948 the new Nationalist Government decided from the 1950’s
through to the 1980’s that these foundations should
be built on and to try to use the Motor Industry as the "locomotive"
for Industry in general.
There can
be no argument that the initial pace of the industry was set by GM and Ford.
They were then the market leaders but with internal resources and systems that
could not be matched by the others, in short very professional. That they were
not able to hold this position is one aspect explained in this memoir. But it must also be acknowledged that many
people who worked in the Industry spent their formative years in Port Elizabeth
only to join the competition, taking with them this professionalism and know-how.
In
effect, with the exception of Ford and General Motors all these immediate
post-war plants were labour intensive
contractual assemblers with minimum investment, interested mainly in products
for which they held sales franchises but also willing
to work for any other suitable clients.
The
industry would also not have been as effective in dealing with Government
without its own Association - NAAMSA - National Association of Automobile Manufacturers
of South Africa. Much credit for this must go to its second Director, Frank
Locke. NAAMSA ensured that the motor industry
was never faced with Government regulations on “Job Reservation“, which in
almost every other industry, including the component
suppliers, ensured that certain work, on a Provincial and or Industry
basis was reserved for certain race categories. NAAMSA thus played a leading rĂ´le
in best meeting both Industry and Government’s aims in an industrial
development that would not have occurred otherwise, and which today provides employment
and considerable export business.
The
Motor Assemblies production of Nuffield products was initiated in
1949 with the 950cc
side-valve Morris Minor and at that time the plant consisted of a CKD
unpacking area, body shop
with main frame fixtures and spot weld guns for each model followed
by a finishing line where the body in white was completed, a paint
shop using nitro cellulose lacquers, a trim shop where the interior
trim including the seat covers were made, a body trim line,
mechanical assembly line and final inspection and rectification.
Apart
from the Minor, production was started for the Cowley, Oxford and
Isis models from Morris plus Wolseley, Riley and as a first outside
the UK, the MG TD. As was more or less standard for all the vehicles
produced in SA at this time, the paint, glass, tyres, batteries and
interior soft trim were locally produced, primarily to reduce the
value of imports and make their associated permits go further.
Viable
production, even with only basic assembly and moderate investment,
requires volume, and there were several motor manufacturers without
their own volumes to justify this, so that the availability of
contract assemblers like MA was of commercial interest. Export of
vehicles in CKD form was also not a monopoly of the US or UK industry
and other European manufacturers without a dealer network in SA were
interested in establishing themselves in a market which, following
the victory of the Nationalist Party in 1948, was seen to be less and
less tied by tradition to America or the United Kingdom.
In
the Heavy Commercial vehicle sector of the industry, market leaders
were AEC and Leyland, both with assembly in Durban.
Adding
to the model availability, Fiat contracted out assembly to CDA, Auto
Union to SAMAD and Peugeot to Stanley Motors. In 1952 Standard
Triumph came to Motor Assemblies.
In
1954, after the formation of BMC
in 1952 and the merger of
Nuffield and Austin empires, Austin, on what was not a very strong
South African market position, decided to build a plant to be located
at Blackheath, near Cape Town. So in 1955 Austin assembly moved yet
again! The major benefits of this plan were to come later with all
BMC assembly transferred to Blackheath as well as importation and
distribution functions.
In
1956, Chrysler, determined to become a serious challenger to the
dominance of GM and Ford, decided to start their own plant at Elsies
River near Cape Town, first taking over the production from Paarden
Eiland and later that of MA although, to help soothe their still
important dealers and MA shareholders, left the production of pick-up
trucks in Durban.
By
May 1957 Motor Assemblies had produced 50 000 vehicles and
employed 750 people.
At
around this time Forsdicks were taken over by McCarthy Rodway and now
as Nuffield, Austin and Chrysler agents, were able to give MA
important leverage over BMC and Chrysler, at least for a time.
In
1958 there was a relaxation of import control, which allowed the
import of fully built up units not seen in any volume since before
the war. This was short lived
as
annual sales increased from 59 000 in 1956 to 90 000 in
1958, increasing the outflow of foreign currency. By
the beginning of the 60's the Government was putting together the
final touches of a local content programme that would change the face
of South African industry, and not just that of motor manufacture.
That the programme had to go through several phases and modifications
was inevitable as shall be told.
At
the time that import restrictions were lifted in 1958 Borgward had
already started to make a very good local reputation with the
Isabella, particularly in the country districts with bad roads. The
importer maintained very good relations with several Government
Ministers, in particular the Minister of Economic Affairs and the
relationship was seen as a chance for Afrikaners to gain a foothold
in the industry. They now increased their imports and one of
Borgward’s engineers was sent to South Africa to conduct a
detailed study of local manufacturing possibilities and initiate the
manufacture of certain parts with a spares application. With this
information they made a number of direct proposals as to how the
local content system could be organised and were well prepared for
the future although their experience in production outside of Germany
was confined to Mexico. Once the governments local content plans were
made known Borgward’s backers concluded a contract for assembly
with MA. It was more than disappointing that the parent company in
Germany went bankrupt and we shall never know what long-term
impression they might have made on the market.
After
import regulations were re-imposed, those manufacturers active in
built-up exports to SA started to re-examine the long term potential
of the market and several decided to get more firmly established
while there was a chance. This led to Fiat, Mercedes Benz (1960), DKW
/ Auto Union and Alfa Romeo going to CDA for their models to be
assembled.
However,
from time to time assembly
arrangements were changed. In 1962 Fiat decided to leave CDA in East
London and move their production to MA. Their new Managing Director
had big plans for establishing themselves firmly in SA, and that the
then current 1100, 1500 and 2300 models justified this view. Using MA
as their production base they felt their own staff had sufficient
experience of parts manufacture in South America to comply
easily with the local
content regulations.
Soon
after this change, assembly was also to be started at MA for Volvo
and Lancia.
Since
the very start of the motor industry there have been not only the
disappearance of manufacturers but also takeovers and mergers so that
there was an ever changing scenery but with consequences nevertheless
reaching the shores of SA. As
already noted the first
major UK merger was that of Austin and Nuffield to create the British
Motor Corporation in 1952 although for
a few more years their
individual distribution systems ran independently. In 1960 Jaguar had
taken over Daimler and in 1966 BMC merged with Jaguar to form British
Motor Holdings.
Almost
in parallel, Leyland had bought Standard Triumph in 1961 and expanded
its heavy commercial vehicle side in 1962 with the purchase of
Albion, Guy and AEC and in 1966 acquired Rover/Land
Rover. These developments
led the way to the inevitable fusion of BMH and Leyland in 1968 to
form British Leyland.
MA
was to be considerably affected by all these changes. The first
significant products of the Austin / Morris merger were the badge
engineered, Farina-styled ADO 7, Austin A55 Cambridge-Morris Oxford
V-MG Magnette MkII-Wolseley 15/60-Riley 4/68 look-alikes and Austin 7
/ Morris Mini 850 so that when they were introduced in 1960
production of these units was shared between MA and the BMC plant in
the Cape. This production sharing continued until 1962.
Nevertheless,
MA had a unique position in producing sports cars in CKD form. The MG
sports car was only ever produced outside the UK in South Africa.
Production started at MA with the TD and changed in
1957 to MGA 1500 roadster.
The MGA 1500 Coupe was to follow as well as MGA 1600, 1600 Mk II and
Twin Cam. With Standard Triumph as a customer it was natural that
their TR-series should be built starting with the TR2 in 1955 and
running until the last TR 3A came off the production line in February
1963. Spitfire assembly followed from 1963 to 1967.
The
Government, through the deliberations of the Board of Trade and
Industries, had looked at the local content systems used in other
countries and after considerable consultation with the motor industry
and component manufacturers decided that, if SA were to maintain
reasonable trade relations with countries that were not in favour
with the Nationalist Governments policies, a different approach was
needed.
In
order to implement the policy, in the late 1950’s the SA Board
of Trade initiated a dialogue with the motor industry through their
trade body, NAAMSA. The outcome, intended to spread the technology as
far as possible, was a proposal for a graduated increase in local
content but based on a horizontal integration with as broad as
possible a base of independent component suppliers,
such
as existed in the UK,
rather than the vertical model favoured by GM and Ford in America.
The
final proposals were therefore, that, while on the one hand the high
Customs import duties would be maintained on completed vehicles and
spare parts, on the other hand these duties were to be rebated when
sub-assemblies and parts were imported in a specified CKD form. It
further proposed to introduce an Excise Duty based on the average
weight of a particular model but which was also to be rebated,
provided certain local content levels were reached by mass according
to a specific time scale. At the time some observers thought that the
50-odd models available then would be reduced to half a dozen. But
this was thought by others to be unacceptable to all parties.
The
Excise Duty factor of mass
had the great advantage that it could
be easily checked and this formula did not bring into the calculation
any distortion of profit or other secondary costs. This
concept was expected to
encourage
the basic steel-related
industries making castings, forgings and metal pressings for which
the basic materials were in most cases already made. But it did not
favour light weight, high cost components such as instruments, or
complicated assemblies such as gearboxes or axles.
The
starting point was to be more or less the existing local content by
mass taking into account the battery, tyres, glass, trim, odd small
parts and consumables. The incorporation of these materials
had only been a purchasing
function as the suppliers were local operations of established, high
reputation, manufacturers such as Firestone, Dunlop, Goodyear, Lucas,
Exide, ICI and Pilkingtons.
There
can be no doubt that GM and Ford thought that there was little chance
of the fragmented competition being able to conform to the local
content regulations, or for new-comers to enter the market.
Therefore
they thought it would only be a matter of time before they had the
market to carve up amongst themselves. Apart from each announcing R4m
plant investments the approaches differed. GM already had an in-plant
facility modelled in a way on their US subsidiary Delco and they
produced batteries and pressings for their light truck bodies. They
expanded this horizontal structure by increasing the size of their
press shop to satisfy the major volume of new local content as well
as expanding into engines (with components made in-house),
radiators and other fabrications. Ford also decided to follow the
engine route for local content with an engine machining and assembly
facility with a capacity of 30 000 units a year but, they
planned to obtain all other items from outside suppliers.
Introduced
as Phase I the initial requirements for “Manufactured Models”
were to reach a 35% content by 1963, at which point a review would
have already been made as to how much further and by when this should
be followed by Phase II. There was also a category for “Assembled
Models” which only had to reach 25% local content but volumes
were limited in some relation to previous import permit limits. The
local content requirement for these was raised to 30% by the end of
1966 and 35% by the end of 1967. In
this way the smaller volume companies were offered a chance to
survive and grow and maybe later convert to “Manufactured”
status. Those “Manufactured Models” that reached the 35%
level but could not attain viability over this target would be able
to continue as “Assembled Models”.
When
in 1964 GM opened its engine plant, they together with Chrysler and
Ford still had a 50% market share in passenger vehicle sales, due
largely to the introduction of US so-called Compact models, as well
as 4 and 6-cylinder UK models from Ford and Vauxhall.
To
the surprise of the Government and the Big Two, the independent
assemblers were to show that, even if they could not match the
investment capability, they could make full use of the pioneering
work being carried out by GM and Ford in developing a supplier
industry, and by doing this they need not be excluded from the market
so easily. Motor Assemblies, like the other independent assemblers,
found most
of its customers without
the resources of a parent motor manufacturing concern and thus
without not only investment capital but the engineering know-how and
systems to develop local content. If it was to stay in business the
only response was to offer a local sourcing facility in addition to
assembly and in 1960 a Vehicle Engineering section was created for
this purpose, under the control of Mike Compton. BMC also decided to
use the increased local content requirements as a reason to transfer
the Durban part of their production to their own plant in the Cape,
so the first
MA customer for an
increased level of local content was Standard Triumph.
The
Standard 8 and Vanguard had been MA's initial Standard Triumph
products but with the introduction of the Herald range in 1959,
and the 2000 to come,
there was some hope that they could attain a production volume that
would sustain the introduction of local content. For various reasons,
not least a design that did not fully take into account African
road conditions, the Herald
failed to meet its sales targets. Hence in time only the 2000
remained as their hope for the future and it was introduced as an
“Assembled Model” in 1965 with 25% local content.
The
primary objective at MA was to be able to
retain assembly clients by presenting a
viable plan whereby they might meet the local content objectives,
obtain the excise rebate, and
not have to invest heavily in tooling or dedicated production
facilities. There were also a large number of actual and potential
component suppliers who were more than interested in expanding their
facilities and so doing their bit to help both the Government and
Manufacturers reach their targets.
The
increased assembly
volume and number of clients,
an unsatisfactory experience with operating a double shift and
recognition that the original
paint facility was not then state of the art, caused the MA
shareholders to agree in 1959 to the construction of a new paint
shop. There was no additional property directly adjacent that could
be used for this expansion and the nearest available site
was about 500m away in
Lansdowne Road and
of sufficient size for the
future construction of a new body shop and off-line vehicle storage.
Bodies in the white (bare metal) would be transported by tractor
trailer units and returned fully painted by the same system.
Almost
the first components to be localised at MA were seat frames as the
trim was already made and the main requirements of tube manipulation
and seat springing existed at several potential outside suppliers
making steel furniture. To
these were added items with a spare parts demand such as oil and air
filters, hub caps, shock absorbers, suspension springs and exhaust
systems. Firstly, since in many cases the production facilities
existed at “pirate“ manufacturers, and secondly because
the addition of spares gave a greater volume of parts over which any
tooling could be amortised.
Unfortunately
not too many of the
early component suppliers
were good at production planning or quality!
It was one thing to make after-market parts with no exacting delivery
date, sometimes using “knife and fork” methods, and quite
another where non-delivery was going to stop either the production
line or vehicle delivery. The after-market for “genuine”
parts was also not normally a factor used,
as the official dealers of the car manufacturers were required to
sell only genuine parts. Likewise the normal supply route to
independent parts factors had clients where low prices and good
margins were of greater importance than quality. The appreciation of
what quality meant on a series production basis was normally as
absent as that of the equipment or the systems required to control
it.
The
need for increasing local content did not go unnoticed by several
European OE component manufacturers and
through the 1960’s plans
were put in hand, normally
based on their own
experiences outside of Europe or the USA, for local manufacture. Of
major importance were transmission drive shafts (GKN/Anglo-Vaal),
wheels (Rubery Owen/Vecor), radiators (Coventry Radiator/Silverton),
disc and drum brake assemblies (Girling), engine piston-ring-pin
assemblies (Hepworth & Grandage/Wellworthy/Lauf Lumenite) and
electrical components (Lucas, Bosch). Already active in the
after-market and more than willing to add to their volumes were
Woodhead Kempo (shock absorbers, coil and leaf springs), Armstrong
(shock absorbers), BTR (rubber components), and Smiths Industries
(spark plugs). Later, some US companies also joined the fray -
Thompson-Ramco (pistons and rings), Borg Warner (rear axles) and
Motorola (alternators and regulators). This potential also attracted
non-OE manufactures such as Quinton Hazel (exhaust systems) and Repco
from Australia (brake drums and discs) as well as new investments
from outside the motor industry such as construction company Murray
and Roberts into iron castings.
It
was always intended by Government that Iscor would supply as much as
possible of the steel requirements,
but there were production limitations in high quality steel sheet for
external body pressings and specialised alloy forging steels from
USCO. There was also no suitable source for complex castings. As a
result of these
circumstances the investment plans of Ford and GM were assisted by
the Government. At their behest, it introduced the concept of
“Approved” manufacturing schemes whereby, until the local
availability of suitable castings and forgings, un-machined parts
could be imported, be locally machined, and still qualify as local
content. A similar concession was given to steel strip needed for the
more specialised large external body pressings.
Taking
an opposite track was CDA which was coming more and more under the
influence of Mercedes Benz and trying to obtain for
their clients less rigorous
content requirements for low volume / high value units. In contrast,
MA seemed to offer, with a clear realisation of the need to localise,
a better long term possibility for customers (actual and potential)
and could even be a potential take-over target if all went well.
However,
to everyone’s surprise Fiat were not to be outdone and raised
the stakes quite considerably by making an announcement that they too
would be applying for an engine manufacturing programme using the
same
“Approved” concessions.
This manufacturing
activity would also be
out-sourced, in an even more surprising move, to Turin Motors, a
small engineering company in Johannesburg.
In
short, not too many manufacturers were going to be left behind, at
least at this stage of the game.
Motor
Assemblies involvement with Fiat’s local content programme
assisted considerably in making the learning curve easier to climb.
Their Argentinean experience permitted them to take a practical,
engineering-based approach rather than what might have been written
in manuals – if they ever had them. The Turin factories would
remove parts from sub-assemblies that would not even be considered by
other manufacturers,
and approval was given locally in South Africa without reference to
Italy. Apart from the assembly documentation being comprehensive, all
the required part production drawings and material specifications
were made available. In addition there were quite a number of Italian
immigrants who were ex-Fiat employees owning small manufacturing
factories in the Johannesburg region, and this network was engaged to
make Fiat parts.
Fiat’s
decision to increase local
content by the machining of engine parts
might not have occurred without what was then new technology. When
Ford and GM set out their machine shops they were based on what were
conventional lines where individual single-purpose machines were
linked and machining carried out in the same sequence as the machines
were set out on the floor. It was conventional practice but was very
capital intensive requiring large volumes to provide viability. Fiat
and their contractor Turin Motors considered that, by using a
combination of a Numerical Control (NC) machining centre and limited
special purpose machines, the capital requirement could be reduced
significantly and this would enable them to compete with GM and Ford.
There
were several problems with this approach that were not taken into
their calculations. One was that a detailed and complicated planning
system was needed to carry out the correct machining sequence and
achieve the correct machine loading. The other was that there was a
complete lack of experience as to how NC machines and their computers
worked. Both the machine sales staff and the customers understood the
principles but a technician had to be sent from Europe to resolve
many of the problems encountered. MA considered that, although
production had not started, this approach was also valid for the
Toyota engine and also signed up with Turin Motors. These initial
encounters with NC machines resulted in serious production line
stoppages at MA at times, especially in the early stages. But the
financial advantages were proved correct.
It is
also appropriate to mention the Turin Motors approach of using general purpose
machines such as plano-millers with say three blocks mounted in different ways
on the same machine and being machined in one pass. This may have been very
practical so far as machine usage was concerned but meant that some operations
were performed out of sequence and thus keeping track of production progress
was a nightmare, with huge problems of missed operations. It was a very unusual
way to do it but on small to medium volumes was viable and therefore marques
with marginal volumes could meet the requirements and survive.
After the withdrawal of the Herald from the market all the Triumph
resources centered on the marketing of the 2000 making it essential that it
reached at least the 25% level. But
in time it went on to reach the 35% content level by the end of 1967. To do this MA took the lead role with a free
hand to choose the components to be localised provided the economics were
satisfactory. In the process the MA engineers gained valuable experience
in local manufacturing processes. A major advantage
was that unlike say Fiat, the local OEM suppliers were all from the UK, the
most important of which were established in SA. This made it much easier to
source locally, for example, disc brake calipers, clutch assemblies and drive
shafts. This MA staff know-how would be fully utilised in the next year or so
for the development of Toyota.
In 1964
Phase II of the local content programme had started with the obligation to
reach a 45% level by the end of 1968. However, it had already been made known
that those who wished could continue to a 55% level in the following 3½ years, the main incentive being the higher
rebate of Excise Duty. However, those manufacturers
who had reached the 35% level but who could not viably proceed, would be permitted
to continue with the status of an “Assembled Model”. If able to increase their
market share and achieve the viability required, they would then be permitted
to obtain “Manufactured” status and the tax rebates this brought, without any
limits on volume.
While the
initial local content targets were not too difficult to attain they were to
become progressively harder, particularly for those who
were independent importers and with lower sales volumes. While in terms
of free enterprise the greater the competition the better, in reality the lower the
number of manufacturers there were, the better would be the economic results of
the government’s manufacturing programme. Where heavy investment was needed for
model-specific tooling, this was no particular obstacle for those selling
reasonable volumes of their own products, but not so for a local importer who
was only a profit orientated intermediary between the foreign based manufacturer
and the local customer.
One of
the most outspoken objectors to the whole local content programme was Walter
Essex Clarke of CDA. On behalf of their main customer, Mercedes Benz, he maintained
that it would never be possible to obtain components of a satisfactory quality
level in South Africa for such as MB, who he argued had very high standards to
maintain. His demands appear to have had little effect on Government policy. At
a later stage, to meet them, MB contracted to buy many body pressings from VWSA,
which must have been another first for South Africa.
Volvo,
imported by Lawson Motors in Johannesburg had also projected an up-market
image, backed by a very successful local saloon car racing and rallying
programme. In 1960 an assembly contract was given to MA who first started with
production of the 544 but then quickly changed to the then new 122S. For Volvo
this was also the first time they had supplied material in CKD form. Having started with a limited local content programme they
were encouraged by both the entry of Mercedes Benz into the Local Content race
and their objections to it, which Lawson’s thought might succeed. They followed
the MB route of going for a large number of body pressings but did so first
with Datsun, which proved to be very problematic as the Swedish engineers had tried
to save on tooling costs by using a lot of hand work. The serious quality
variations of this approach led them in 1973 to follow the MB route by moving not
only the body press work to VWSA but also the vehicle assembly.
Lancia
was another up-market make whose importer, TAK, hoped they could remain in
business, at least for a little longer, by participating in local
assembly. Production started at MA with
the Appia, followed by the Fulvia Coupe, Flavia
1500 Sedan and 1500 Coupe, the latter yet
another one off for MA - the only production site outside of Italy to complete
a Pininfarina-made body. The body shell was delivered
fully assembled only requiring painting and trim. The world-renowned body
builder was not that impressed with this news and had a special B-post badge
produced to fit in place of the normal one emphasizing that it was a Pininfarina
design.
The last
Chrysler units to be built by MA were D250 pick up trucks which were more than
competitive to the GM and Ford equivalents and still had many supporters,
particularly in the SA Railways and Provincial Governments’ Roads Departments.
Later the Japanese were to take over the market of all three American manufacturers
in this sector. This particular MA production line
was started in 1960 in the place previously occupied by the old paint shop, and
had also been used to assemble BMC trucks of various sizes until 1962.
In
setting their initial local content strategy the SA Government had not expected
that in the early 1960's Japan would become a major export customer for iron
ore, coal and wood chips. Nor had they foreseen that the Japanese at a diplomatic
level would point out that there were no reciprocal imports helping to balance
the trade between the two countries. The volume of exports was also much larger
than could be compensated by the import of consumer
products such as radios and cameras.
This
diplomatic pressure led to a number of SA businessmen, with SA Government
encouragement, making trips to Japan to see what was on general offer and it
should not have been a surprise to them to find that MITI, that all powerful of
Japanese Government organisations, had earmarked the motor industry to be the
leading trade partner with SA. Some of the first businessmen to make this
pilgrimage were Afrikaners from Pretoria with close ties to the Nationalist
Government and who had been privately assured of import permits for products
that they were interested in. They were not however motor men and it was
perhaps just as well, since what was on offer then in Japan would not have
excited anybody from the industry.
To the
brothers Thys and Andries Bekker the Japanese Motor industry should owe a
never-ending debt of gratitude as the importers of the first Datsun model, made
by Nissan. Because the price was so low and the terms unrepeatable they placed
a test order for just 100 built-up so-called 1-ton pick-up trucks with a 1000cc
petrol engine, in spite of the fact that as rather large and typical Afrikaners
neither of them could sit in comfort behind the steering wheel! Little were
they, or anybody else for that matter, to know that this visit to Japan was not
only to be the death knell of the US pick-up but in time the Japanese dominance
of the market.
The LDV was an excellent product with which to open up the market because
it was a commercial vehicle not subjected to excise duty or local content requirements.
The first deliveries were to urban companies such as dairies and, since it was the buyers’ employees who did the
driving, maybe this space problem
was not a major feature at this time. Sales of the first 100 units went so well
that a more permanent arrangement had to be made and this involved a trip by
the Bekkers to MA and, without much delay, in 1962 a contract was signed to
assemble just 1000 trucks in the next 12 months.
In spite
of the desire to sell automotive products to SA, the Japanese Government was
very conscious of the government’s apartheid policies, as well as its
repugnance to the rest of Africa with whom they also wanted to do business.
They therefore laid down simple and clear rules for their exporters to follow -
no investment, direct or indirect and no credit - payment by Letter of Credit.
Once it
was clear that Datsun LDVs could be sold, to accommodate the Japanese, the SA
Government had to modify the local content plans somewhat, first delaying the introduction of local content
regulations on commercial vehicles and then in a more significant ruling,
providing a period in which new entries could build up their local content to
the then required levels of local content without penalty. This was not to be
the last change made to help the Japanese as one of SA’s major trading
partners.
It was
also at this time that McCarthy Rodway made management changes and the then
Sales Director, Noel Horsfield switched to a subsidiary, Illings, as Managing
Director. He and the new McCarthy Chairman, Pat McCarthy then made the trip to
Japan, also with government encouragement, to see what products they could
obtain for this business subsidiary that they had decided was in need of new
direction. They came back with the agencies for earth-moving equipment
manufacturers Komatsu and Hitachi as well as Mazda. Not surprisingly, the
latter in pick-up form, was to be assembled from 1963 onwards in the McCarthy
Rodway “family“ by MA.
For the
first time worldwide, two competing Japanese manufacturers were to find their
products assembled in the same factory! But this situation was not to last and
from the Japanese point of view, was to get even worse after
MA agreed to assemble models from Toyota and Mitsubishi as well.
Dr Albert
Wessels was another Afrikaans businessman, involved in clothing manufacture and
already using Japanese textiles but who was also looking for new industrial
opportunities. Spurred on by the perceived success of Datsun and wanting a
little light diversion from a recent divorce he obtained the franchise for
Toyopet products, the then commercial vehicle range of Toyota, and imported the
first Stout test unit in October 1961. The Toyota car franchise was already
taken and at that time all he could do was wait and see if it became available
although at this time its need was
questionable.
Realising
that his fellow Japanese importers seemed to be making progress with MA it
should have been no surprise that he and Hennie Klerck, the Managing Director
of the newly formed Toyopet Commercials Company, should visit Durban to talk
about and finalise an assembly contract for 1963.
All these
new clients with absolutely no motor industry experience were willing for MA
not only to build their vehicles but also to plan and execute their local
content obligations.
Apart
from the fact that Wessels and Klerck were in good company with Fiat, Standard
Triumph and Datsun who all wanted to do their best to comply with the
Government regulations (which was not the case with Mazda, Volvo or Lancia!)
there was little to do but to follow the route taken by the others. However,
one of the major reasons that Datsun and Mazda
had come to MA is that McCarthy Rodway had a subsidiary, Airco Engineering, which,
while its main business was the manufacture of Carrier air conditioning, had
also built the load bodies for Dodge pick-up trucks assembled at MA.
The first
Toyota product to be built by MA and with a load body
similar in size to a Dodge D250, was the Toyopet Stout, a 1,5t pick-up with
beam front axle of somewhat larger dimensions externally than the Datsun LDV
that was by then taking the market by storm. However, the internal dimensions
of the cab were not much better than the Datsun but more importantly the market
reaction was nevertheless favourable. At the same time assembly was started of
the Tiara pick-up, but with a mono construction local content was neither
viable nor technically possible and production was ended.
It was not
long after the introduction of the Stout that MA was asked to look at the
introduction of the Corona 1 ton Pick-up, a direct competitor to the Datsun “Bakkie“.
Also there was a revised Stout with a lower payload, larger cab and independent
front suspension marketed in Japan as the Lite Stout! Not surprisingly Toyota
SA chose to call this model the Stallion. It was supplemented later by the Dyna,
a forward control pick-up.
When the
Corona LDV was first introduced in1965 it was an instantaneous hit, probably
because the load body had somewhat more style to it than that made for Datsun and the cab interior was more passenger car in size and
style so that it fitted in with the trend of using LDV’s as a replacement for
the family car, especially as the lack of Excise duty made them much cheaper.
Whereas
in Japan the load bodies were pressed with stylish curves, in SA they had to
make do with somewhat rectangular designs because at that stage there was no
chance of recovering the tooling costs of pressed panels. It was most certainly
the Corona 1500 LDV that set the foundation for Toyota in South Africa as the
Datsun 1000 LDV had for Nissan.
When
these first Japanese LDV’s successfully entered the SA market there could have
been very few people who gave them a chance to repeat this story in the car
sector, nor at that point were there any provisions in the local content
regulations to let them even attempt to do so. The Japanese themselves thought
otherwise and very soon started pressing their importers and the Government to
permit imports and in this they were successful, the first make to be assembled
being the Datsun 1200 Sedan followed shortly afterwards in June 1966 by the
Toyota 1500 Corona. The government again assisted by giving a short period for
them to reach the same 45% content level as their established competitors which
they were able to do.
In 1966
there were 16 030 Japanese vehicles sold in SA making it their 3rd
largest export market.
In
1954 MA management changed with Bob Burnie becoming General Manager
in place of G. S. Lissaman. His successor, John Sully, then aged
about 35, was appointed in
1957. An ex-Fleet Air Arm pilot who had the bad luck to be invalided
out of the Service (but the good luck that it was in Durban) minus
one lung, and where he found his first wife and congenial
surroundings in the post war period. His only obvious qualification
to run a motor plant was an enthusiasm for cars but he was an up and
coming yachtsman, a sport in which Noel Horsfield, one of the
Directors of McCarthy’s and Olympic yachtsman, was heavily
involved. John too was later to be nominated as one of SA's 1958
Olympic team that went to Melbourne and he was also for many years
the SA Flying Dutchman Champion. Under John's management the company
was to be transformed out of all recognition over the next few years.
Sully
inherited Mrs Pam Wright as his private secretary and as a management
team Roy Bruce (Chief Engineer), Les Mitchell (Company
Secretary), Tony Campbell (Accountant),
Charles Cull (Production Manager), Dave Martin (Production Supt.),
Stan Dickens (Supplies), Ian Barratt (Plant Maintenance) and Arthur
Collison (Shipping). This latter was at the time perhaps the most
important job, but least appreciated, requiring a detailed knowledge
of Customs and Excise regulations and the documentation that went
with it.
Of this team only Charles Cull, who hailed from the UK Midlands, had
worked in the industry before. He had been sent to SA by Austin at
the time the A40 went into production at SAMAD. After moving to MA he
had encouraged trim and body shop experts from Coventry, in the form
of Arthur Swain and Andy Cameron to join him in Durban. Production
planning and scheduling was a major activity and was based on
considerable time and motion study. Headed up by Derrick Nevitt the
staff came from the local clothing or shoe manufacturers.
MA were one of the first Durban employers
to establish a medical clinic and the second nurse to work there,
Pauline Hatch, started in 1957. Once a month she met with 4 or 5
other Durban industrial nurses to compare notes but there was also a
part-time factory doctor, Dr Tweedie. Two of his main concerns were
lead poisoning (a lot was used in the body shop) and TB. The latter
was also a reason for regular visits by the mobile x-ray unit.
Apart from employees health the clinic
dealt with work injuries. The production manager and foremen were not
happy to be losing time with their staff leaving the lines to attend
the clinic but after the arrival of John Sully it
was made clear to them that the clinic
could reduce absenteeism through sickness or injury and a sick note from
the company doctor was preferable to one given from outside. In the
early 60s a larger clinic was built and Dr Tweedie worked at the
plant full time.
There
was one aspect of an assembly plant in Durban that was perhaps not
fully appreciated when plans were first drawn up and that was the
quality of the pool of Coloured (mixed race) labour available. With
hands-on training from the likes of Charles Cull and Arthur Swain
they were able to produce a first class product to standards that
were equal to, if not better than, those found at the time in
England. The fact that the co-called Coloureds in Durban have English
as their home language greatly facilitated this training,
However,
later in 1960, the departure of Charles Cull to the new BMC plant
in
the then Rhodesia found Roy Bruce with the additional responsibility
of Production Manager.
To
put life into the local content programme and his Vehicle Engineering
department, in 1960, Sully also hired Mike Compton who came from a
R&D background in the UK motor industry and in due course he was
to be joined by Engineers (and Natalians), Tim Gallwey in 1966 and
Colin Downie in 1967, the latter coming from Ford.
Of
the MA clients only Fiat made any major
commitment to the planning
and execution of their local content development and transferred an
engineer, Dario Gonella, to South Africa using where possible MA's
experience and at the same time establishing their own suppliers. MA
was also to draw on Fiat’s experience.
The
first Japanese representative to become involved with MA was Ryu
Miyakoda of Nissan and he was followed by Yoshii Aikawa from Toyota.
They were both Johannesburg based and, as delegates from the sales
companies, acted primarily as post boxes between SA and the factories
in Japan. With Toyota the connection was even more distant as Aikawa
and his successors worked for Toyota Sales Company which was
separate, even on the stock exchange, from Toyota Motor Company which
built the vehicles.
Although
MA had started a local content programme for Volvo there came a time
when the Lawson Motors management thought they were becoming too
reliant on MA and should employ someone themselves and appointed
Alois Rosner. As mentioned earlier they bought many body pressings
from Datsun which created problems for MA quality personnel but gave
valuable lessons for the MA engineers.
During
the early years the assembly procedure was so unsophisticated that if
support were needed, the European manufacturers sent personnel to
Durban. In any case neither BMC nor Triumph plants had much to offer
in this respect. The arrival of Fiat, Lancia and Volvo resulted in a
number of visits to Europe, normally made by Sully but also by Roy
Bruce and provided a window on new production methods. John Sully was
the first from MA to visit Japan and much later, Mike Compton the
second.
When
it was confirmed that the new Phase II was to come into force with a
new local content target of 45% to be reached by the end of 1968 the
industry had yet again to re-think their individual strategies but
this also came at a time of change within the industry in general.
Overall SA vehicle sales had by now increased and all the assembly
plants were being expanded, including MA. In 1958 there had been
900 000 licensed vehicles on the road and by 1967 this had
increased to 1 580 000.
As
already noted, by 1963 MA volume had by now grown to the extent that
a new paint facility was needed and soon after that a new body shop
was required. This was located next to the paint shop, each change
giving in turn more assembly space in the old plant. However, when in
1966 MA started
to plan for the assembly of
Magirus Deutz heavy duty trucks for Illings, as well as Fiat and OM
heavy trucks for Fiat, it
was clear that even more
space was needed. This was done by taking over an old factory in
Leicester Road, Mobeni into which Mazda LDV production was also
moved, and this activity also brought contracts to assemble US Reo
and
Kenworthy trucks and later
on Henschel.
When
Standard Triumph was absorbed into Leyland in 1961 it had no
particular direct effect on MA since at that point Leyland only had
commercial vehicle interests. However, when BMH was merged into
Leyland to become British Leyland it was a different story and it was
only a matter of time until production of Triumphs was moved to Cape
Town at the end of 1968. In total MA produced 16 035 Standard and
Triumph units over a 17 year period.
Of
all MA’s assembly clients, Fiat was by far the most aggressive,
increasing their dealer network and advanced in their local content
plans. They had found a source of small suppliers, mainly in the
Johannesburg area who were of Italian origin, thus spoke the right
language, were intuitive engineers and more importantly, were
interested in investing in component production facilities of which
the most significant was to be the production of engines by Turin
Motors. However, Fiat management wanted, as a matter of policy, to
control the assembly facility themselves and planned to make an offer
to purchase MA.
They
were beaten by the brothers Bekker who, while John Sully was on a
trip to Japan made a direct offer to McCarthy’s. They were not
that concerned that they were asked to wait for Sully’s return
before receiving a firm answer and
they were so confident of
success that their offer was made well known amongst the senior MA
staff, several
of whom would have been happier if the plant had fallen to Fiat.
However, to the surprise of
all, on his return to Durban, John Sully advised McCarthys against a
sale and the Bekkers returned empty handed to Pretoria to think over
a different strategy.
Not
long afterwards Dr Wessels made his approach to McCarthys and this
time they accepted the offer made and at the end of 1964 control of
MA passed to the newly created Toyota SA. The most immediate impact
was the notice given by both Datsun and Fiat with both starting the
construction of their own new plants at Rosslyn, North of Pretoria,
with the transfer of Datsun production taking place in 1966 and Fiat
at the end of 1968, six years after seconding the first staff to
South Africa.
Dr
Wessels took control of MA on December 31st
1964, leaving the previous management in place. Apart from Toyota,
after the withdrawal of Datsun and Fiat, the assembly clients left
were the Illings Mazda and Magirus trucks, Triumph,
Volvo and Lancia,
the
latter unable to add much to production volumes but all of them much
to the skills needed for the quality requirements of a passenger car
.
Once
Toyota SA had its own manufacturing plant the range of models was to
be expanded with the Hi Lux and Hi Ace and the Dyna, a medium
commercial. The extra space of the Leicester Road plant made this
possible.
With
sales of the Corona LDV, as well as the Stout and Stallion, going
well the
next step was to introduce a passenger car into the range. In 1965
the Board of Trade approved the proposal that assembly of the Corona,
with 1500cc ohv engine, could start with minimum local content.
However, production of the model’s soon to be introduced
successor, the Mk II, with 1600 or 1900 ohc engine should commence
not only with an assembled engine but also with a locally machined
cylinder block, head, crankshaft and camshaft. The respective
castings and forgings were to be imported from Japan until such time
as suitable local items could be sourced. It was now necessary to add
an engine assembly facility and it was decided to locate this in the
Leicester Road plant. At this point, the experience gained with the
machining of Fiat engine parts led to the contract for the cylinder
block and head being given to Turin Motors with the crankshaft,
connecting rods and camshaft going to GKV. The Corona was introduced
in 1965 and was fitted with the 1600 engine from the end of 1968 when
the Mk II was introduced. They continued to be built in parallel,
with the MKII fitted with the 1900 version of the same engine.
In
1964 the NMA plant had been sold to the Rootes Group for Hillman,
Humber and Sunbeam production alongside which Peugeots were also
being assembled. In the mid-60s NMA started manufacture of the
Peugeot 404 engine and, in another uniquely SA development, it was
also fitted to the Hillman. By then the American Motors Rambler had
entered the market and was assembled initially at NMA. In 1967
Chrysler took over Rootes and in 1968 Dr Wessels took control of
American Motors Rambler importation and distribution but, rather than
be produced in a Chrysler plant, its assembly had been moved to the
Datsun plant in January 1968. Not surprisingly Rambler assembly was
transferred to MA in 1969.
This
was to be Dr Wessels first adventure into trying to spread his risks
in the motor industry as he was, at this stage, not too sure how the
SA / Japan relationship might go at a political level. American
Motors had a Representative office in Johannesburg staffed by Frank
Reid who, prior to the assembly transfer,
had planned an ambitious local content programme covering engine,
pressings and rear axle. A contract had been given to Turin Motors
for their 6-cylinder engine to be made locally in order to meet local
content targets
but
serious problems were encountered at times. Even so, plans to cast
engine blocks came close to realisation, but the economics were not
favourable so in 1971 MA initiated an investigation to fit a GM
engine.
In
1970 SA produced 200 000 passenger cars and 95 000
commercial vehicles and by the early 1970’s SA had 14 plants
producing models from 10 makes but by the mid 1970’s of the now
15 plants only 2 were SA owned in contrast to the 5 in the early post
war years. This was certainly not the scenario that the Board of
Trade had had in mind when they started off on the local content
route to industrialisation
15 years before! But the industry was also caught out. Not only did
Ford and GM think they would have the market to themselves but some
component suppliers got things badly wrong too. GKV assumed they
would get all or most of the forgings business so their plant was far
too big. On the other hand Borg Warner under-estimated the demand for
their rear axles and were swamped by the number of orders they
received.
The
foreign-owned assembly
plants were those of General Motors (Port Elizabeth), Ford (Port
Elizabeth), Chrysler (Cape Town and Silverton), VW (Uitenhage), Fiat
(Rosslyn), BMW (Rosslyn- previously Praetor where Willys Jeep were
assembled as well as BMW’s under the name of Cheetah
mainly for Rhodesia),
British Leyland (Cape Town), Peugeot (who had taken over the
Natalspruit CDA plant from Chrysler), Citroen (who had built a small
plant in Port Elizabeth), Alfa Romeo (who had
also built a small plant at
Brits), Rover (who had built a plant in PE) and Mercedes Benz (East
London). The SA owned plants were MA / Toyota SA (Durban), and Datsun
(Rosslyn).
The
predominance of foreign-owned plants was the consequence of the
ever-increasing investments required in order to maintain the
necessary levels of local content, investments of a magnitude that an
independent importer could never justify. These importers also never
had the full access to the engineering resources of their Principals
and were seldom party to the designs of the future so that they were
unable to calculate the period of time over which any particular
investment might be recovered. In the same way they were never able
to invest in a large enough dealer-network that would ensure
sufficient sales to generate the required volumes - a circle of ever
decreasing size.
A
good example of this was Lawson Motors, the Volvo importer,
who later took on the importation of Renault as a second string which
was assembled at that time by CDA. It was not a commercial success
and in 1975 the Renault franchise was taken over by Dr Wessels, his
second effort at diversification away from Toyota. Lawsons themselves
assembled Volvo trucks in Durban and although they moved car assembly
to VW in 1973 they were eventually overtaken by both a lack of
finance and,
if that was not enough, the anti-apartheid boycott of SA by Swedish
companies.
The
number of assembly plants was reduced through mergers and
acquisitions in Europe. In the late 1960’s the Bekker brothers
sold Datsun to the mining house Messina Transvaal who wished to
diversify, changing the name to Rosslyn Motor Assemblers and
welcoming contract customers. One of their first customers was
Renault, followed by Peugeot who closed the old NMA plant in 1978.
Peugeot having bought Citroen in 1975 eventually closed the PE plant
and production also moved to RMA.
The
Chrysler plant in Silverton had been started to manufacture axles but
production was transferred there from Elsies River plant in Cape Town
which was then sold to Leyland. In 1976 Illings, by then part of
Anglo-American, decided to merge their interests with Chrysler and
the build of Mazda was transferred to Silverton, later to be known as
Sigma. The
creation of British Leyland, the combination in the UK of BMC and
Leyland had led to the closure of the Rover plant in PE and in 1978
it was planned to transfer their production from Cape Town to Sigma,
a plan that was never executed as Leyland withdrew from the SA
market. One further make was added to the market in 1982 when
assembly of a Honda model was started by Mercedes-Benz.
The
large foreign company owned vehicle plants as well as component
manufacturers were not only able to draw on well qualified people
seconded to work on their local content programmes but also had tried
and established internal systems adapted to such developments. In
addition the large vehicle manufacturers also ran Graduate training
schemes which, when backed by job rotation, provided a flow of new
local talent.
The
local contract assembly plants had to find other ways around their
lack of know-how and in any case, in the 1960’s the motor
industry in general was not renowned for its employment of university
graduates.
In
much the same way that for the assembly process the contract plants
had, to a large extent, used immigrants with already acquired
know-how, so a similar route was needed to take forward the demands
for increases of local content. However, the vast diversity in
components and their respective production methods meant that it was
not possible to justify product specialists and much of the product
related skills had also to be learnt by more generalised
manufacturing staff.
Another
major deficiency was what would today be considered a total lack of
the understanding of quality. This affected the contract assembly
plants, raw material manufacturers and the component suppliers, while
the motor manufacturer-owned plants were themselves not that much
more advanced.
There
was also the question of fundamental approach – was increasing
local content a function of purchasing or engineering departments?
The
major players such as GM and Ford with long established operational
structures considered that their Purchasing Departments should take
prime responsibility with those of Engineering, Manufacturing and
Quality providing support. MA and several smaller players with
somewhat lean structures decided that Engineering should take the
lead with both technical and commercial responsibility, at least
until such a time as the local content targets had been met.
Regular
deliveries were ordered in by the Supplies Manager (Bob
Malcomess) on contracts placed by Vehicle Engineering.
There were pros and cons for both methods but the latter was able to
implement projects far faster, which was at that point very important
in both meeting local content targets and obtaining as long as
possible a tooling amortisation period. On the few occasions when
this procedure was not followed some seriously bad choices were only
narrowly avoided.
In
contrast to some of the larger plants, several of the smaller plants
were also run and managed by motor car enthusiasts who did not just
carry out their jobs for the pay at the end of the month – they
actually enjoyed driving, could relate to the products and were quite
often seen competing in competitive motor sport. With such people
employed the results were often better thought out than those
involving the larger and more bureaucratic industry leaders.
The
existing and potential local component manufacturing industry was
motivated by several aspects of the local content programme apart
from profit. For those who, up to then, had just been “pirate“
spares manufacturers there was the chance of obtaining respectability
as an OEM supplier. For others the potential was to be able to
diversify from existing similar but not motor industry related
products, while there were several who already had a technology
agreement with a European or American parts manufacturer and saw the
benefits of being able to sell increased volumes.
However,
for several established OEM suppliers in Europe and America the SA
requirement for local content presented problems. In many cases it
was their technology, rather than the car manufacturers, that was
needed to produce components and in general they were not supportive
to the SA Government’s plans. They had also experienced similar
industrialisation measures in South America, India, Korea and
Australia where technical solutions were not always commercial ones.
Nevertheless
as the local content programmes progressed, and the larger car
manufacturers needed specific technology-intensive components to meet
their targets, and perhaps to preserve the supplier / manufacturer
relationships, these OEM suppliers started to invest and produce. An
example would be Lucas who felt able to build a very modern and
exemplary plant with the greater volumes that had become available by
then, also justified by the greater readiness of assemblers to buy
“black box items” such as starter motors and alternators.
For
Motor Assemblies and the other small producers this was a lifeline
and the OEM’s were not going to turn down business when it
boosted their overall volumes to enable them to adopt more
sophisticated production methods. This co-operation did little to
reduce the number of models in the market and the only consolation
for the Government was that these foreign companies brought
technology as well as investments.
How
did the change from import to local take place?
Apart
from establishing a model programme for the immediate future, the
first requirement was to establish the base vehicle mass to which the
local content was to be calculated, in other words to weigh 10 units
and establish an average. In those days model variations were little
more than the number of doors and any extras were a matter for the
dealer.
In
the negotiations with Government establishing the programmes many
actual and potential component suppliers had made proposals and the
components they made became the first potential incorporations to
which were added those items that the plants thought could be made
without too many difficulties. If the mass of these items provided a
margin over the required target the next aspect was the commercial
consequences.
In
order to evaluate the relative price effects the manufacturers
supplied what were known as “deletion“ prices for items
that might not be supplied as part of the CKD pack. These prices with
the addition of import costs became the target for local component
manufacturers and a bone of considerable contention as they seldom
represented the actual purchase price of the manufacturer. In most
cases it was for the importer to decide if the premium to be paid
could be recovered in the car price or was less expensive than
withdrawing from the market. In most cases, to the actual component
price had to be added the amortisation of the full or partial tooling
costs, but
in some cases this could also be offset against the price obtainable
from spare parts made from the same tooling.
Supplier
quotations were normally obtained on the basis of component drawings
supplied by the car manufacturer and with not very much importance
being placed on the proposed method of manufacture. Often
data regarding materials or process specifications were missing as
this know-how belonged to the OEM supplier, not the manufacturer.
However, the acceptance of
a quotation was subject to the supplier obtaining engineering and
quality approval of pre-production samples within a certain time
frame.
While
the likes of GM and Ford established quality control departments for
this purpose and were able to make approval on an autonomous basis,
the smaller plants such as MA were only able to establish very basic
facilities. In any case the Head Offices of Volvo or Toyota wished to
evaluate the quality for themselves. For this reason many parts
either never made it or took an unreasonable time before approval was
obtained.
Once
approval had been made and deletion from the CKD pack agreed, local
component production would start and these deliveries were subject to
some form of inspection. Nevertheless, engineering approval for
pre-production samples may have gone off well only for full
production supplies to fail, either on plant arrival or on line
fitment, sometimes because samples had not been made “off
production tooling”. Either way this normally brought vehicle
production to a standstill. In most cases if parts got this far they
normally were found satisfactory in the field.
In
these early days there were very few cases where MA and similar
plants developed their own local suppliers, it being much more normal
for a supplier to try to sell to them on the basis that he already
had, or was about to obtain, a Ford or GM order.
The
improvement of quality was an on-going challenge led primarily by
Ford and GM who, with the use of regional inspectors, insisted on
certain internal measures and monitored supplier performance.
When problems did arise they had the ability to send in at short
notice production and quality engineers to resolve them. Suppliers
with consistently good supply records were rewarded
with publicity and plaques to hang in their offices. ISO 9000 was a
long way into the future but these schemes were not so different in
concept. Not having the resources to work in the same way it soon
became clear to Motor Assemblies that the only alternative to resolve
quality problems was by detailed inspection of parts as they arrived
These
early quality assurance measures were primarily directed to ensuring
that the supplied parts fitted and did not cause assembly line
stoppages. Whilst glass was an early culprit by far the worst
problems related to exhaust systems. That the components offered a
service life equal to the imported item was of secondary importance.
However, in these early days, none of the parts made in SA could be
considered safety critical.
However,
the localisation pace was increasing
and incoming inspection started to include dimensional checks for
items such as brake drums and disks as well as dynamic shock absorber
testing. There was new investment in quality personnel and equipment,
as local engine assembly and parts manufacture started, with a
temperature controlled measuring room located at Mobeni. The
standards were those set by Toyota and some very expensive measuring
equipment was installed there. Two dynamometer stands were installed,
one for testing engines off the line, the other, in a special cell,
for longer term component testing.
As part
of the move to local engine manufacture a temperature controlled measuring room
was established at Mobeni with air gauges, optical camshaft measuring rig,
Nikon projection microscope, and Talysurf for measuring surface roughness. They marked the start of equipping the plant
with expensive and sophisticated equipment for quality monitoring, and evaluating the paint quality on finished products from suppliers.
But
the need for new plant attitudes was highlighted when management
happened upon a noisy unloading scene in the Stores. It transpired
that our new local crankshafts were being removed from their
individual cardboard boxes, the wax wrapping was then removed, and
the shafts were being thrown like potatoes into a skip! In a similar
manner body panels were stacked against each other on the floor with
a lot of resultant damage and then staff complained about the poor
condition in which they had arrived from Japan!
The
Japanese had some understanding of the fact that deviations from
their component specifications were necessary due to supplier
limitations and where necessary concessions were given. However,
there were suppliers, particularly of UK origin, who had great
difficulty in understanding not only why Toyota had made certain
design requirements or dimensional tolerances, but did not believe
they enforced them in their own manufacture. Having been forced
reluctantly to accept Toyota requirements it was later found that
they had even adopted such measures for their general production.
There
were also aspects of the Toyota product that did not meet local
marketing or potential customer expectations,
in particular so far as ride and handling were concerned.
These
were related to the very
different conditions of the roads and driving speeds between
Japan and South Africa. There
had been similar problems in Australia so that Toyota was, to a
degree, understanding in the desire to modify specifications. The
first Corona 1500 models sold utilised a suspension developed
for Toyota’s own 1600GT and MA’s own developments with
shock absorbers and tyre sizes.
An
important change with the advent of local manufacture of the Toyota
engine was that three specialists were sent from Toyota Motor Company
(TMC) to oversee the final approval stages in late 1968. These were
Hosono (Engine Design), Hikosaka (Machining) and Ohno (Quality). This
was the first time that MA personnel had direct access to the factory
engineering staff, and the personal interactions were very helpful in
getting a better understanding of their approach and to establish
contacts for the future.
The
demand for vehicles was increasing with the general economy and with
it that for Toyota vehicles while there were still products from the
Japanese range that could be added and that had market potential.
However, making forecasts into the future it was also clear that in
spite of the additional space at Mobeni, more still was going to be
needed. Neither the Jacobs nor Mobeni sites were capable of
expanding, nor were any neighbours willing to sell. A suitable
green-field site was going to be needed. To this end Dr Wessels
initiated some studies.
During
this time of growth there was increasing friction between Toyota
Marketing led by Basil Landau and MA led by John Sully, the former
wanting new models assembled and into marketing-required
specifications and the latter determined to do what he thought best
within his opinion of the plant capability. This problem was not to
get easier as time went on and was also the catalyst for Mike Compton
leaving in 1969 to join Magirus Deutz as Chief Engineer. He was
replaced by Colin Downie, and Tim Gallwey was moved to the engine
plant, a change facilitated by the move of Triumph 2000 production to
the BMH plant in late 1968.
Sully
had transformed Motor Assemblies. When he started in 1957 it
occupied just the original site in Jacobs covering some five acres.
During his tenure he added a paint shop down the road and later a new
body shop. Then he took over the Mobeni site for truck production,
and finally he established the massive new plant at Prospecton. The
number of employees had risen from 750 in 1957 to some 3 500 in 1972.
He ran a tight and lean operation which was very profitable. But
his modus operandi was reaching its limits.
The
problem was that previously he had never occupied a senior management
role nor any position within the motor industry. His own appointment
was due to the patronage of Noel Horsfield of McCarthy Rodway as in
fact was that of Roy Bruce and Mike Compton. They, together with his
inherited most senior staff member, Les Mitchell, did largely what
they were qualified and paid to do but the rest were pressurised to
do as they were told by what might be described as a benevolent
dictatorship and in reality there was no team.
As
the operation changed Sully appointed staff who fitted well into his
organisation but whose qualifications were in any case borderline or
inappropriate, making them even more compliant with Sully’s
concepts. The first of these newcomers was Ernie Comley as Chief
Engineer as a consequence of Roy Bruce leaving for Illings. Whereas
Vehicle Engineering fell nominally under Bruce, after his departure
it reported to Sully. The second of these appointments was that of
Colin Knowler as Planning Manager, also answering to Sully. Comley
did not stay with MA very long and was replaced by George de Greef.
None of these appointments in the late 1960’s had ever worked
in the motor industry, itself making the transition from assembly to
manufacture. The result was to be the lack of a professional approach
with an understanding of the needs of high volume manufacturing,
especially for sophisticated systems and procedures, and a stifling
of initiative among the personnel. It was becoming clear that things
needed to be changed but how and to what?
It
was a classic example of a company having grown from a small
operation to a large
one which needed to add a sophisticated management system. Also, the
skills and knowledge needed to run a large organization are markedly
different from those required to run a small company and to grow
rapidly to meet market demand. No longer could one man, even such a
dynamic person as John Sully, give direction covering all the
activities and complexities involved in constructing a new facility,
installing state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities with complex
technical issues and increasing the labour force to over 3 000
people. Given the rapid expansion there had been neither the time nor
opportunity for him to learn the new approaches that were needed, and
it is not clear that he ever realized the need to change. It was too
much to expect the leopard to change his spots.
The
first study initiated by Dr Wessels was to ascertain where a new
plant should be located, either in the Durban area or for example
Pretoria / Rosslyn where so many new plants had already been built.
With the reduction of CKD pack sizes resulting from increased local
content the old arguments for locating a plant at the coast were less
valid. But with Port Elizabeth providing a home to some of the larger
component suppliers the economics for a Transvaal location were not
that good. In the end the decision to remain in the Durban area was
based on the excellent skills of the then current, largely coloured
(mixed race), work force. An important bonus to be considered was
that the attraction to English-speaking Durban was much better for
white managerial and technical staff, rather than to the
Afrikaans-speaking Transvaal, nor would the existing staff be lost.
The
second study was therefore the design and layout for a new facility
including having the capability of expansion and bringing in-house
activities such as component machining now either done or planned at
sub-contractors.
Prior
to these expansion plans Dr Wessels came to Durban more or less every
week and he took a very active interest in the progression of the
studies. However, by doing so he got to know the personalities
involved and the way they managed and were managed. Visits to plants
in Europe and Japan were organised to evaluate methods and potential
sites were looked for in the Durban area.
The
decision on location was to buy land at Prospecton on the south side
of Durban in what had been a swamp but had been filled in from a
neighbouring hill. One aspect of the plan was to combine truck and
car production on one site with one body shop and one paint shop. In
the longer term this was a bad decision as truck assembly and quality
issues are markedly different from those for cars so that eventually
a separate truck plant was again set up. Construction commenced in
May 1970 and the first vehicle, a Stout truck, was produced at the
end of May 1971. The plant covered 34.6 hectares with 81,000 square
meters under roof and was later expanded to 63.4 hectares with
233,000 square meters under cover.
Another
decision was to take on the machining of the Toyota cylinder block
and head as the volume had now reached some 1000 engines per month.
For this purpose Sully at last and no doubt under pressure from Dr
Wessels, recruited someone from within the industry, Tucker Lochhead
from VWSA, an engineer who had received extensive training in
management and he gradually effected some changes in the way things
were done. Lochhead then recruited Peter Hutchinson from GM to be
Engine Production Manager and in time support people were recruited
in turn from others in the industry. Likewise Alec Spero was
recruited from GM to be Chief Inspector for the engine plant and cut
his teeth on MA activities with monthly visits to Turin Motors to
sort out routine problems. Another important development was built on
the contacts from the earlier visit of the engine specialists. That
was the secondment of a young engineer from TMC for a year, one
Takahashi. He strengthened the link to the factory engineers and thus
greatly facilitated the flow of technical information and was a
useful source for explanations of Toyota terms and procedures.
At
the same time the increased volumes prompted a move from having
engineers deal with a variety of components for a specific make or
model, to specialists in particular areas. Hence Tim Gallwey
concentrated on engines and control of their quality with a small
incoming inspection operation, and taking charge of engine testing
rather than it being under the assembly foreman. At the same time a
group was formed around Keith Bennett within Vehicle Engineering to
deal specifically with pressed parts across the range. This latter
was taken a step further when a joint company was formed with
neighbouring company Rowen for the production of pressed parts. An
interesting product from this company was a kind of modular design
for the air cleaner body whereby one set of pressings was used to
provide four different layouts for the two engine sizes in two
different body shells, again unique to SA. Also at this time a scheme
was started in Vehicle Engineering to train technicians within the
company through a three-year sandwich programme with the Natal
Technical College. Thus were laid some foundations for a more
professional approach to running the company.
With
the introduction of the Corona in 1966, Vehicle Engineering was
expanded to include a test garage, and performance testing was
conducted on public roads – down the south coast for some, and
on the dual carriageway near Mooi River for altitude testing since it
was at some 1 500m above sea level. Similarly a routine car test
route was later established by going from Durban to Umzinto then via
Ixopo to Pietermaritzburg and Mooi River, followed by a return leg
via Greytown and Stanger back to Durban. Driving on this route
alternated between clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. For
testing of oil consumption it included one or more laps of the Roy
Hesketh circuit near Pietermaritzburg.
Likewise
routine specialist engine tests were commenced to monitor aspects
more related to reliability issues, and regular “teardowns”
were instituted to check for correctness of assembly including
torques. The latter established that torque wrenches were being
misused and twice-weekly calibrations were introduced. Similarly,
after moving to the new plant, Colin Downie instituted a system
whereby a few cars were taken regularly from the finished car yard
and marked up with masking tape to show any appearance defects. In
these various ways the first steps were taken towards establishing
product quality auditing systems, although at that stage there was no
formal collection or analysis of data. One would have expected these
activities to be under the aegis of the Quality Control department
but their rĂ´le then was seen as catching faults on the line and
“fire fighting” to implement fixes when they occurred,
and to liaise with Service personnel.
In
the old Jacobs plant the Factory Inspector had threatened to have air
conditioning installed because of the high temperatures and
unacceptable working conditions. The design of the new plant aimed to
achieve a significant improvement in working conditions by heavy
insulation of the roof and the installation of extractor fans to
alleviate the effects of the hot and humid Durban climate. On the
whole its layout
and design was the same as the old plant as the same people were
involved i.e. the Plant Engineer George de Greef and Planning Manager
Colin Knowler. But for the new engine assembly operation the system
was changed from manual movement on a roller conveyor to assembly on
a fixture which was moved continuously by an under-floor conveyor.
Similarly, special hot test stands were installed where each engine
was run for some 10 to 20 minutes and the dynamometers were reserved
for more specialised testing, facilitated by the installation of
programme control equipment whereby stepped sequences could be run
under semi-automatic control.
With
regard to block and head machining the increased volume meant that
special purpose dedicated machines could be justified on a
once-through layout. However, due to the limited size of the staff,
it was not feasible for the in-house selection of machines and design
of jigs and fixtures. As a result a turn-key approach was adopted
whereby a number of vendors were invited to tender for the
manufacture of complete lines for these two components. The
negotiations were handled by Tucker Lochhead with assistance from
Hutchinson and eventually an order was placed for a sum of about R5M.
In addition there was the cost of the new dynamometer cells, hot
test stands and specialist measuring equipment such as a 3-dimension
co-ordinate measuring machine and specialist calibration equipment.
At the same time the increase in large pressed parts required the
acquisition of specialist grid-line surface tables whereby body
panels and complete body shells could be checked dimensionally.
Similarly, whereas previously inspection and Standards Room
activities had been combined, they were now separate. Thus the
Standards Room provided a service to engine plant machining and to
incoming inspection in the engine plant, assembly plant, and body
shop, plus to Vehicle Engineering for dimensional examination of
first-off samples.
Engine
machining raised a new problem. It became necessary for the
inspectors to read instructions and to fill out record forms. The
African personnel now prevalent in the plant were unable to cope and
the solution was to seek people with at least Standard 8 education.
It was complicated by ridiculous Government regulations whereby
Africans living on the East side of the city (e.g in Kwa Mashu) were
not allowed to work on the West side. The same applied vice versa to
those living on the West side. This resulted in the recruitment of
Indian inspectors. They were a great success but complicated the
buildings situation as apartheid rules required that they have
separate change rooms, showers, and canteen but some compromise was
worked out.
With
the move from the old Jacobs plant Dr Wessels took an equity stake in
Airco Engineering and they then moved their truck body operation into
the space that had been vacated at Jacobs, as they were running out
of space in the existing premises. It was the second such move
involving a supplier company, as Wessels had taken over the First
National battery company which subsequently supplied all Toyota
batteries. Quite some years later this process was extended by taking
over a number of other component manufacturers.
Once
the new engine plant was running Tucker Lochhead’s
responsibilities were changed to a broader remit as Sully realised
the need for a more professional operation. Thus he took overall
charge of production. One change was to appoint Bob Stapleton from
Accounts as manager of the paint and body shop side of things, a not
very predictable person for the job. Another change was to send Tim
Gallwey to TMC for three weeks of training in their quality systems
and his subsequent appointment as Assistant QC Manager. On the
assembly side he recruited Brian Ewer, a graduate electrical engineer
who had been trained as a manager at Felt & Textiles, John
Sully’s old firm. Yet another change was the appointment of
someone to analyse production data in terms of cost or consumption
per vehicle, which produced some startling results such as the
excessive consumption of sound deadener. How come this had never been
done before?
Separately
from all this, a new professional Personnel Manager was recruited
from a major local company. Up until this time it had been a very
amateurish operation (probably the most amateurish in the whole
company), mostly concerned with the formalities of hiring and firing.
There were many anomalies in appointments and pay levels, without any
proper structure for assessing appropriate skill levels across
departments or for determining pay levels, promotions, or salary
increases. In some areas there was no proper management structure,
let alone any proper system anywhere for personnel development, nor
any system for training despite repeated suggestions from Dr Wessels.
A
development on the quality front concerned paint. In earlier days
there had been some chemistry input to the paint shop operations and
this had been treated as part of the production operation. Now that
overall volumes had risen substantially it became necessary to set up
the beginnings of a paint laboratory, and weaning it away from the
production operation was not easy. However, in time, specialist
equipment was purchased so that proper specialist tests could be
carried out on the paint itself, on vehicle body parts, and on
incoming components. However, vendors then required the provision of
test specifications against which to evaluate their products. By this
time a new TMC on-site representative had been appointed with
strengthened responsibility. He brought with him a full set of
Toyota standards documents and these were used to set up the
beginnings of materials test requirements. In combination, these
developments emphasised the need for the appointment of a graduate in
the emerging field of materials science who would also be able to
look after metallurgy, rubbers, plastics, adhesives and so on.
Roundabout
this time there was a change in the manner of dealing with suppliers.
In the earlier days these had tended to be adversarial in nature and
somewhat at arm’s length. But, as the technical level
advanced, there was a slow change towards a more collaborative
approach on the basis that neither side could afford to have the
other go under. As a result vendors started to alert MA to their
problems and requested discussions on how to proceed. As part of this
process the manufacture of the piston gudgeon pin highlighted the
need for a more cautious approach in SA. In Japan TMC could use a low
chromium alloy but in SA this carried the risk of metallurgical
problems due to the less tightly controlled production operations, so
in time a higher chromium alloy was adopted along with oil quenching
rather than water. The lesson was similar to that of the variability
of Volvo pressed parts from Datsun due to the inconsistency of the
local manual labour.
An
interesting feature of the new plant was the office block. Its design
was heavily influenced by the layout Sully had seen at Volvo who had
adopted an open-plan layout. The ground floor was taken up with a
large kitchen and canteen. Above it was the so-called technical floor
occupied by engineers and planners and the top floor was for
administration such as Accounts and Supplies. However it was not long
before corner cubicles were erected as people in supervisory
positions found a need for privacy and for documentation security. It
also led to what Volvo people described privately as “over
communication” as subordinates could see when their immediate
superior was free and consequently requested their involvement in
decisions rather than making them using their own initiative. Over
time these expanded in number so that eventually all three sides of
the floor were taken up with such cubicles, in rejection of what had
seemed like an enlightened step.
The
new plant saw the abandonment of the old dip tank approach for the
application of anti-corrosion material to the underside of the
vehicle which had extended halfway up the doors. It was very
effective in the field, so much so that NMA bought the old tank and
then made some publicity about their “improved rust protection
measures”. But it was very messy and seriously disliked by the
body shop production management. So it was replaced by installing
the latest E-paint technology for the undercoat whereby the whole
body was immersed in the paint which would ensure wrap-around
effects. It was the first such plant in SA. But it required the
provision of suitable holes so that the bodies would not float which
meant that the traditional truck bodies had to be modified. The
other big change was to replace phosphating with zinc chromating.
These changes were expected to effect significant improvements in
product quality and in productivity but there were serious unforeseen
problems.
The
paint quality was consistently bad, so much so that on one particular
day only nine bodies out of a daily flow of 250 were accepted by the
inspection crew. Drastic action was required and the new direct
connection to TMC was called into play. Help was requested and three
specialists from the Takaoka plant for Corolla production were sent
to resolve this problem and to undertake visits to major suppliers to
reassure TMC on that front as well. They were shocked by the
unscientific manner in which paint tests were conducted and by the
generally amateurish style of operation. Although this helped to spur
the development of a proper paint test laboratory they were unable to
solve the basic problem. Eventually it was discovered that the plant
operators were relieving themselves by peeing into the tank, perhaps
due to inadequate or inconvenient provision of toilet facilities. The
resulting bacteria bred quickly in the environs of the dip tank and
caused the poor paint quality. The addition of a biocide to the paint
cured the problem.
This
problem was to have major implications since production output was
way below the expected level and this faced Sully with a dilemma. It
would have made terrible reading on the monthly production reports
sent to Dr Wessels so the issue was fudged, but after some months the
truth could be concealed no longer. When the Chairman realised how
badly he had been misled he took steps to appoint his own man inside
the company who would report directly to him, and advertisements were
placed for such a position. Not surprisingly Sully could not accept
such an arrangement and he resigned. Wessels appointed
Tucker Lochhead as acting General Manager while he reviewed things.
He engaged head hunters to find a new Managing Director and ended up
appointing Geoff Graves from Ford who, since he had reached their
retiring age of 55 and could no longer hope to obtain the top job
there which, in any case, had always been given to be an American.
This prompted the return to VW a few months later of Lochhead where
he became Technical Director, a loss criticised by TMC personnel.
Sully’s
interventionist style had led
to a group of managers who
were not accustomed to taking full responsibility for making
independent decisions. The result had been a growing slackness in
operations and seriously short-term attitudes, added to their
amateurish approach and lack of systems. The time was ripe for a
shake-up. Graves proceeded to recruit various people from Ford, the
most important being Ralph Broadley who effectively became Graves’
understudy and later replaced him as MD when he retired. In time more
and more Ford people joined the organisation and a more professional
regime ensued. One appointment was that of Ray Long charged with
setting up a supplier quality assurance system which would have MA
staff located at major centres to conduct quality checks and audits.
Initially it supplemented the existing inspection approach but later
replaced it.
However
there were problems as these people knew only the Ford way of doing
things and tried to “bolt on” Ford systems, procedures
and terminology. Although they engineered a significant number of
distinct improvements in various parts of the operation, they lacked
the skills to assess independently and maybe to appreciate, the
merits of doing things in other ways. These attitudes
caused serious problems of “indigestion” which led to the
departure of some of the staff e.g. Tim Gallwey, and Bob Patterson of
Supplies, in 1973. It also meant that later on, when needs and
techniques had changed, they no longer had Ford to provide them with
the requisite new skills and knowledge. The previous lack of
personnel development within MA came back to haunt them.
There
was also a group of long term senior employees who were left behind
by the new systems. These included Dave Martin (truck plant), Charles
Cull (assembly plant), Stan Dickens (Supplies), all of whom had yet
to reach retirement age. The problem was how best to use their skills
and experience. Mostly they were allocated to “special
assignments” whereby they could be used in trouble-shooting
type rĂ´les. But it represented a significant loss of status and
esteem and was another failure of the new management to endear itself
to the existing employees. However it was obvious that major changes
had taken place which had been badly needed and the new people laid
the foundations for the next leaps forward.
Later
Developments
In
1984 a 2000 ton plastic bumper moulding machine was introduced. Then
in 1985 Toyota SA took over the Rowen press plant in Mobeni, renamed
as Toyota Stamping Division. With increased investment it was run 24
hours per day on a three shift basis to meet market demand. Colin
Downie established a closed test track at Eston in 1985 on 180
hectares for testing in secret and safety. It had a tarred fast track
with banked looped ends for high speed testing, a rough road
durability track, and numerous special surfaces in line with TMC’s
test facilities. Paint technology was enhanced in 1988 by installing
a reciprocating electrostatic colour spray system, the first in the
SA motor industry. In 1989 a tool and die making facility was built
at a cost of R50 million with a full CAD/CAM capability, to make car
body dies and also run on a three shift system. Its competence was
illustrated when in 2001 it received a tooling order from a major
German company for one of its new models to be launched in Europe. In
1990 a Product Engineering Centre was opened at a cost of R5 million
to bring together all engineering staff for the first time on one
site with 104 engineers and 77 technicians, a far cry from Mike
Compton on his own!. In late 1991 a new R80 million flexible
component machining facility was commissioned.
On
23rd
March 2001 the 1½ millionth Toyota built in SA came off the
line. MA was then Durban’s largest employer with 7,800
employees on its books, up from 3,500 in 1972. Its capacity by then
was 470 units per day i.e. one vehicle per minute. Also in 2001 the
first robots were installed for spot welding and the application of
body sealers. The company bought Metlink in September 2001 for the
supply of exhausts, fuel tanks, chassis, box bodies, seat springs,
and other metal fabrications, with premises in Jacobs and Prospecton.
Eventually
Toyota SA was the top seller in every segment of the SA vehicle
market and MA was the biggest plant in SA. No one could have foreseen
this development when Motor Assemblies first started in the 1940s.
Furthermore its history has so many unique features that it makes a
remarkable story of industrial development.
After the completion of this story in
2009 we realised that there was at least one missing element –
that of the full production figures for the Jacobs plant from 1948 to
1970 covering both cars and commercials. We had access to the car
production figures that had been rescued by Colin Downie but without
the figures for commercial vehicles we could not show the whole
picture. An inquiry to NAAMSA led us to understand that their sales
figures no longer existed from the pre-computerisation age and other
potential sources drew a blank. A chance meeting between Colin Downie
and Ryno Verster (author of “Thanks for the Mini Memories, A
South African Mini Story”) changed this. Ryno had spent many
days at NAAMSA scanning all their records and could supply our
missing figures. We have now added this data with the various makes
and model produced together with the volumes as well as the relative
production time periods. It has to be admitted that changes in
reporting methods has meant that some of the figures have had to be
adjusted but what we now have is a very reliable “best estimate”
covering no less than 166 000 passenger cars and 144 000
commercial vehicles. These figures have been added as Appendix B.
The original text has received changes to
add, clarify or make minor corrections and we have taken the
opportunity to add further pictures.
2011-09-28
Without
the South African component manufacturers there could not have been
such a wide ranging programme and this table lists most of them.
Some had their local origins in the mining industry and diversified
into car parts. It was also made easier because of parent companies
in Europe or the States.
Supplier | Location | Main Products | Parent |
---|---|---|---|
Ace Motor Parts | Durban | Hub caps, reflectors, die castings | |
AE&CI | Cape Town | Supported and unsupported PVC Vyanide seating and headlining material | ICI UK |
AE&CI | Durban | Dulux paints | |
Airco | Durban | Rear bodies for LDVs | McCarthy Rodway |
Armourplate | Port Elizabeth | Toughened safety glass | Pilkington UK |
Armstrong Grundy | Port Elizabeth | Armstrong telescopic dampers | Grundy, Australia |
Auto Electrical | Johannesburg | Starter motors, alternators, wiper motors | |
Auto Industrial | Johannesburg | Machined parts from castings and forgings | |
Automotive Products SA | Johannesburg & Durban | Ferodo brake pads, Lockheed brakes, Borg & Beck clutches | Automotive Products UK |
Bag Stores | Port Elizabeth | RF-welded door, trim and seating panels | |
Barwells | Alberton | Iron castings | |
Bauer & Schaurte (BASA) | Parys | Cylinder head and bearing cap bolts | |
Borg Warner | Uitenhage | Rear axle assemblies | Borg Warner USA |
Bosal | Pretoria | Exhaust systems, jacks | |
British United Shoe Machinery | Port Elizabeth | Pressed parts | BUSM UK |
Bundy SA | Kingwilliamstown | Brake pipes, dipstick tubes | Bundy |
Champion | Johannesburg | Spark plugs | Champion USA |
Chloride Electrical | Johannesburg | Exide batteries | Chloride UK |
Datsun SA | Rosslyn | Pressed parts | Messina Transvaal |
Diesel Electric | Pretoria | Bosch alternators, starter motors | |
Durban Falkirk (Defy) | Durban | Iron castings | |
Dunlop SA | Durban | Tyres, tubes, Dunlopillo | Dunlop UK |
Dunlop SA | Germiston | Radiator hoses, fan belts | Dunlop UK |
Felt & Textiles | Durban | Rubberised hair, felt, carpet, foam padding | |
Firestone | Port Elizabeth | Tyres and tubes | Firestone USA |
First National Battery | East London | Battteries to Japanese standards | Wesco |
Gear Ratio | Alberton | Timing gears | |
Gabriel | Cape Town | Telescopic dampers | |
Geba Die Casting | Pinetown | Die Castings | |
Girling SA | Johannesburg | Girling drum and disc brakes, telescopic dampers | Joseph Lucas UK |
GKV | Uitenhage | Forging and machining of crankshafts, con rods & universal joints. Machining of hub and disc assemblies and drive shafts | J/V of GKN UK and Anglo Vaal |
Glacier Metal | Pinetown | Vandervell engine bearings | Associated Engineering UK |
Goodyear SA | Uitenhage | Tyres and tubes | Goodyear USA |
Greens Radiators | Johannesburg | Radiators | |
GUD | Durban | Engine oil, air & fuel filters | |
Guestro | Port Elizabeth | Road wheels | J/V of Rubery Owen and GKN UK. Later merged into GKV |
Hella SA | Uitenhage | Lights and wiring harnesses | Hella Germany |
Hubco | Johannesburg | Scissor jacks and tool kits | |
James Brown and Hamer | Durban | Grey and nodular iron castings for exhaust manifolds, hubs, brake discs and engine bearing caps | |
Joseph Lucas SA | Johannesburg | Lucas alternators, starter motors and regulators, Lucas batteries | Joseph Lucas UK |
Lauf Lumenite | Roodepoort | Wellworthy and Hepworth & Grandage pistons, pins and rings. Cylinder liners | Associated Engineering UK |
Lectrolite Products | Johannesburg | Reflectors, radiator caps, hub caps, generators, lighting, die castings | |
Mangolds | Port Elizabeth | Sand and Disamatic iron castings | Murray & Roberts |
Motorola | Johannesburg | Motorola alternators and voltage regulators | Motorola USA |
Natal Die Casting | Pinetown | Die castings | |
National Bolt | Johannesburg | Fasteners | |
National Lamp | Grahamstown | Light bulbs | |
National Die Casting | Germiston | Bumpers, overriders, chassis pressed parts, die castings | |
Non-Ferrous Die Casting | Alberton | Aluminium die castings, inlet manifold castings | |
Paulstra | Johannesburg | Engine Mountings | Paulstra France |
Payen Gaskets | Port Elizabeth | Engine gaskets | Payen UK |
Pigott & Maskew | Rubber mouldings | ||
Pinetown Foundry | Pinetown | Iron castings | |
Plascon | Durban | Paints | |
Premier Metal | Cape Town | Seat frames | |
Quinton Hazell | Johannesburg | Exhaust systems, water pumps | Quinton Hazell UK |
Repco | Port Elizabeth | Brake drums. hub and disc assemblies, clutch assemblies | Repco Australia |
Rigby | Pietermaritzburg | Seat frames, small pressings | |
Rocma | Germiston | Rear axles, oil pumps | |
Rowen SA | Durban | Fuel tanks, pressings, component machining | Rubery Owen UK |
Ruberowen | See Guestro | ||
Rubery Owen Metal | Johannesburg | Pressed parts and forgings | Rubery Owen UK |
SA Spring | Port Elizabeth | Zig-Zag seat spring assemblies | |
SARMCOL | Howick | Rubber mouldings, extrusions, fan belts, engine & fuel hoses | North British Rubber UK |
Shatterprufe Glass | Port Elizabeth | Triplex laminated glass | |
Shockabsorber Services | Durban | Teleflo telescopic dampers | |
Silverton Engineering | Pretoria | Radiators, aluminium castings | Associated Engineering UK/ Coventry Radiator/ Aeroplane & Motor Castings |
Simasco | Cape Town | Sintered parts | |
SKF | Johannesburg | Ball bearings | SKF Sweden |
Smith Industries | Pinetown | Lodge spark plugs, air conditioning kits | Smiths Ind UK |
Thompson Ramco | Uitenhage | Pistons, pins and rings | TRW USA |
Timken | Johannesburg | Taper rolling bearings | Timken USA |
Transvaal Malleable Castings | Johannesburg | Malleable castings | |
Turin Motors | Johannesburg | Component machining - cylinder blocks, heads, crankshafts, con rods, flywheels. Engine assembly - Fiat & AMC Rambler | |
VECOR (Vanderbijl Engineering Corporation) | Vanderbijl Park | Forgings | Anglo Vaal |
Western Tanning | Cape Town | Leather hides | |
Westinghouse | Johannesburg | Bendix brakes | Westinghouse UK |
Woodhead Kempo | Springs | Coil and leaf springs | Woodhead UK |
Cars
Motor Assemblies Production - Jacobs Plant - Passenger Cars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Units | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | |
Chrysler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chrysler / Dodge / DeSoto / Plymouth | 11,921 | 06 | 08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Nuffield and BMC Models | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Minor 2 door | 18,758 | 01 | 02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Minor 4 door | 13,859 | 01 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Minor Traveller Series II | 14 | 02 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Minor Traveller - 1000 | 690 | 02 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tourer | 12 | 05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley 1500 | 816 | 03 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Riley 1.5 | 744 | 08 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford MO | 3,842 | 05 | 09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford II | 2,560 | 07 | 03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford Traveller II | 2 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford Traveller IV | 332 | 06 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford III | 120 | 05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Cowley II | 2,108 | 02 | 01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Isis II | 488 | 04 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley 6/90 | 328 | 06 | 07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MG TD | 345 | 07 | 03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MGA 1500 Roadster | 404 | 03 | 06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MGA 1600 Roadster | 184 | 08 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MGA 1600 Coupe | 64 | 11 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MGA Twin Cam Roadster | 64 | 02 | 08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MGA Twin Cam Coupe | 24 | 08 | 03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MG Magnette ZB and Varitone | 826 | 04 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley 15/50 | 220 | 10 | 01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Mini Minor / Austin | 2,413 | 02 | 03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Mini Traveller | 156 | 08 | 09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Oxford V | 1,416 | 05 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Austin A55 Cambridge Mk II | 876 | 05 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Riley 4/68 | 468 | 08 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
MG Magnette III | 412 | 02 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Wolseley 15/60 | 504 | 05 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Nuffield / BMC | 64,970 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motor Assemblies Production - Jacobs Plant - Passenger Cars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | ||
Standard Triumph | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard 8 | 501 | 12 | 08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard 10 | 1,461 | 01 | 05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard Vanguard I | 1,858 | 05 | 06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard Vanguard Station Wagon | 90 | 04/11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard Vanguard II | 804 | 07 | 08 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard Vanguard III | 1,028 | 06 | 06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumjph TR2 | 354 | 10 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumuph TR3 | 624 | 01 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph TR3A | 72 | 02 | 02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph Herald Saloon | 1,436 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph Herald Coupe | 732 | 12 | 06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph Herals Convertable | 96 | 09 | 01 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph Spitfire | 883 | 07 | 09 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph 2000 MkI | 5,712 | 01 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Triumph 2000 Station Wagon MkI | 384 | 05 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Standard Triumph | 16,035 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo PV544 | 462 | 04 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo 122S 4-door | 7,382 | 03 | 06 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo 122 Station Wagon | 1,008 | 03 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo 130 2-door | 5,568 | 05 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo 144 4-door | 5,449 | 02 | 112 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo 164 4-door / 6-cyl | 1,456 | 11 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Volvo | 21,325 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motor Assemblies Production - Jacobs Plant - Passenger Cars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | ||
Fiat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 1100D | 1,900 | 09 | 03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 1500 | 16,748 | 05 | 07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 1500 Station Wagon | 624 | 11 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 2300 | 1,584 | 03 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 850 | 2,160 | 08 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 124 | 4,944 | 06 | 02 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat 124 Station Wagon | 720 | 11 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Fiat | 28,680 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lancia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lancia Appia 3rd Series | 96 | 03 | 07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lancia Fulvia Coupe 1.2/1,3S Rally | 223 | 04 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lancia Flavia Saloon 1500 | 431 | 09 | 04 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Lancia Flavia Coupe 1500 | 269 | 10 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Nissan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Datsun Bluebird 310/410 | 2,182 | 03 | 07 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Toyota | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona RT40 1,5l 2R | 10,400 | 05 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona RT41 1,6l 7R | 7,534 | 01 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona MkII RT62 1900 8R | 7,481 | 07 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona RT82 1600 7R | 150 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Toyota | 25,565 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mazda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
1200 | 500 | 07/12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
1300 | 198 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
American Motors | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rambler Rogue Sedan | 3,664 | 01 | 12 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Rambler Rogue Station Wagon | 736 | 03 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Rambler Rogue Hard Top | 288 | 07 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Hornet SST | 840 | 08 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Passenger Car | 166,002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes 1. The numbers within the year boxes refer to the months of start and end of production. 2. The figures given relate to production except for models transferred to Prospection in 1970 and where sales figures have been used. |
UK Production Dates
Model | Years |
---|---|
Minor MM 918 sv | 1948-53 |
Series II ohv A-series | 1952-56 |
1000 948 ohv A-series | 1956-62 |
Riley One-Point-Five | 1957-65 |
Wolseley 1500 | 1957-65 |
Oxford MO | 1948-54 |
Oxford II | 1954-56 |
Oxford III | 1956-59 |
Isis | 1955-58 |
Oxford IV Estate car | 1959-61 |
Cowley II | 1956-58 |
Wolseley 6/90 | 1953-59 |
Riley 2.6 | 1957-59 |
Magnette ZB and Varitone | 1956-58 |
Morris Oxford V | 1959-61 |
MG Magnette Mk III | 1959-61 |
Wolseley 15/60 | 1958-61 |
Riley 4/68 | 1958-61 |
Austin A55 Cambridge MkII | 1958-61 |
Trucks
Motor Assemblies Production - Jacobs and Mobeni Plants - Commercial Vehicles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Units | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | |
Light Commercials up to 2 250 kg. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chrysler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dodge, Fargo, DeSoto.D100 / 200 / 300 | 5,948 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standard Triumph | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Vanguard | 161 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris / BMC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris J-type, J2, MVC. | 5,151 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Datsun | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
LDV / Pick-up | 15,897 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Patrol, Junior, Caball. | 3,671 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toyopet / Toyota | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Tiara | 3,836 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona LDV 1500 RT40 | 32,262 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Corona Mk II R66 | 4,863 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stallion LDV | 5,660 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hi Ace | 6,958 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hi Lux | 13,613 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Toyota | 67,192 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mazda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
LDV B1500 | 15,322 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
E 2000 | 696 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
F1000 | 1,360 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
E360 | 942 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jupiter / Fuso | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jupiter Pick-up | 953 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Canter Truck | 9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motor Assemblies Production - Jacobs and Mobeni Plants - Commercial Vehicles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Units | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | |
Light Commercials up to 2 250 kg. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pick-up and Van 1100T | 184 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Light Commercials | 117,486 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medium and Heavy Commercials | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Over 2 250 kg GVM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chrysler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dodge, Fargo, DeSoto.D400 / 500 / 600 | 1,400 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Morris / BMC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
LD, LC FU, WE, FF | 4,305 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toyopet / Toyota | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stout | 9,794 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dyna | 7,954 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
DA 110/115 | 1,614 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Toyota | 19,362 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fiat | 362 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
OM | 39 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Magirus Deutz | 434 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Volvo | 455 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nissan | 513 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Guy / Daimler | 130 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Henschel | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Medium and Heavy | 27,078 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Commercials | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
TOTAL COMMERCIAL VEHICLES | 144,564 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note - The unit numbers have been extracted from sales figures with adjustment for stock, where applicable. |