NISSAN SAYS: ROSSLYN, PRETORIA (Monday 15 March 2010) – Renault South Africa (Renault SA) and Nissan South Africa (Nissan SA) hosted a visit by the French Minister of State for Foreign Trade, Anne-Marie Idrac last Wednesday (10 March 2010). The tour of the automotive manufacturing facility formed part of a week-long visit by a high profile French delegation, which was in South Africa to strengthen economic ties and relations between the two countries.
The delegation’s itinerary prioritised visits to French-headquartered companies that have subsidiaries in South Africa. Included was French car manufacturer Renault, whose Alliance partner Nissan manufactures the Renault Sandero at Nissan SA’s Rosslyn manufacturing plant.
“The French Minister was particularly impressed with the one billion rand Renault-Nissan Alliance project, launched in 2008 to maximise synergies between our two companies,” said Nissan SA managing director Mike Whitfield, who co-hosted the visit with Renault SA counterpart, Xavier Gobille. “Manufacturing both the Nissan half-ton Pickup NP200 and the Renault Sandero, it demonstrates both companies’ commitment to South Africa.”
Said Gobille, “As a new entry level vehicle, which is already proving a worthy contender in the segment, we view the Sandero as critical to Renault’s growth in the country. We are especially proud of this first South African product.”
Gobille added that the plant has more than enough capacity to reach the 50,000 unit threshold required of automotive manufacturers by 2013 in order to qualify for APDP (Automotive Production and Development Programme) incentives, providing further impetus for the Alliance partners.
In discussion with Renault and Nissan executives, the French delegation emphasised the importance of this type of partnership in bolstering economies and relationships between countries.
“The Renault-Nissan Alliance is going a long way to consolidating business and economic ties between South Africa and France and we would encourage continued cooperation between the two partners,” commented Idrac during her visit, which included the plant’s multi-model line and new bumper facility.
France and South Africa have strong relations in the areas of trade and industry, arts and culture, and science and technology and are party to around 40 bilateral agreements.
As important, said Gobille, was the role of multinationals in assisting the South African government tackle the country’s many challenges, through corporate social investment initiatives. Gobille pointed to the Valued Citizens programme, of which Renault is a founder sponsor. Since its establishment by the French South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry eight years ago, in excess of 390, 000 educators and 3, 000 educators and principals have benefited from the programme which provides citizen education at primary and high schools.
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