By: Dave Abrahams
Prospecton, Durban - Six out of every 10 commuters in South Africa go to work every day in a minibus taxi - more than 15 million passengers a day.
And the vast majority of those taxis - 80 percent of them, in fact - are Toyota Quantum Ses'fikile 16-seaters, so it makes sense to build them here. Toyota SA in fact set up an assembly line for Quantum vans and Ses'fikile taxis in as far back as 2012 - before that they were imported as complete vehicles.
Now however, it has built a complete new body shop at its Prospecton plant, where Quantum body shells are welded, assembled and painted, before moving to the assembly line to be fitted out.
The first locally-made Quantums came off the line on 26 March this year, and the new plant is now in full swing, turning out 40 vehicles a day - most of them in Ses'fikile trim.
CREATING JOBS
At the official opening of the plant on 22 June, attended by the Japanese ambassador to South Africa, Shigeyuki Hiroki, minister of trade and industry Rob Davies and minister of economic development Ebrahim Patel, Toyota Europe and Africa CEO Dr Johan van Zyl pointed out that it was not only more economical to build the Ses'fikile where it would be used, but that it also created jobs.
The new body shop employs 260 people, nearly half of them young professionals between 18 and 35 years, in addition to the 40 workers already busy assembling Quantums next door.
Not only that, local companies supplying material and components to the new plant have had to take on another 165 people to meet the demand - which means that nearly 500 South Africans now make their living out of building Quantums.