Fuso president and CEO Harald Boelstler says a decision on sourcing components from South Africa for the global group will be made within the next 12 to 24 months.
#x201C;South Africa may be integrated into the company #x2019;s global parts-supplier network. #x201D; He believes that logistics no longer presents a serious challenge to sourcing parts from South Africa #x2013; despite the country #x2019;s major competitive export disadvantage often being cited as its distance to the main markets.
He also notes that the country #x2019;s current Motor Industry Development Programme has provided the stimulus necessary to develop the local auto-motive industry, and that extending it will aid in doing so even further.
#x201C;It is too early to stop it (the programme) now. #x201D; However, he adds, later on, as they become more competitive, #x201C;more and more parts suppliers will need less and less help #x201D;.
Boelstler is certainly authoritative on the subject as, prior to his current position, he was DaimlerChrysler vice-president: Mercedes-Benz passenger-car procurement. As the Mercedes Benz C-Class is manufactured in East London, Boelstler describes himself as #x201C;familiar #x201D; with many South African component manufacturers he has visited over the years relating to this model and others produced elsewhere in the world.
Mitsubishi Fuso is a member of the Daimler-Chrysler group.
Boelstler believes that it may be possible for South Africa to supply catalytic converters, allow wheels, brake pads and leather seat covers to the Japanese truck maker.
He says he has tasked his company to look wider than Japan in terms of component sourcing, and to investigate opportunities to increase and establish procurement from various global sources.
This comes as Mitsubishi Fuso in 2003 announced that its focus, as part of a multiyear plan running until 2008, is on reducing material costs, and increasing investment and overseas sales.
The one objective it is struggling with is achieving a reduction in material costs, owing to the commodity-cycle boom which has seen raw material prices skyrocket.
Japan remains Mitsubishi Fuso #x2019;s main market, with sales of around 60 000 vehicles in the last year. Around 120 000 units were sold in markets outside the Asian country.
South African sales of Mitsubishi Fuso trucks accounted for a rather meagre 600 units of this figure in 2005 #x2013; but this is expected to rise to a thousand units this year on the back of a buoyant local commercial vehicle market, says Mitsubishi Fuso senior vice-president and head of inter- national sales Bert van Dijk.
Despite being a small market, he says he is #x201C;delighted #x201D; with the speed at which the South African market is expanding.
#x201C;We are ambitious and optimistic about South Africa.
#x201D;
the increasing number of Chinese truck makers entering the global as well as South African markets.
#x201C;We are not surprised that it is happening in South Africa; it is part of a process of evolu-tion. #x201D; to develop cars, it was only a matter of time before trucks would be added to the list and then, subsequently, before exporting these vehicles would become a priority.
#x201C;We take this into consideration in our plans, #x201D; says Boelstler. As aspiring heirs to the throne, he expects Russia and the Middle East to pursue vehicle manufacture as a method of countering a possible postoil economic meltdown as the commodity starts to become increasingly scarce into the future.
 
on
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