CFAO South Africa announces a new automotive body parts manufacturing plant joint venture

(From left to right) Wayne Bowyer (Managing Director of Toyota Tsusho Africa), Andrew Velleman (CEO of CFAO South Africa), Andrew Kirby (President and CEO of Toyota South Africa), Rev Musa Zondi ( (KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs), Minister Parks Tau (SA Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition), Hiroshi Morita (CEO of Ogihara Thailand) and Nigel Ward (Toyota EVP: Manufacturing and Manufacturing support) at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

The joint venture will bring substantial foreign direct investment to South Africa, create numerous employment opportunities, and further deepen the localisation of our economy in alignment with the South African Automotive Masterplan objectives. This collaboration exemplifies the commitment of both joint venture partners to localisation and underscores the possibilities for growth and development through investment in our country.

Ogihara South Africa and its new production plant at the Dube Tradeport is a joint venture of two leaders in their field. The plant will be pivotal in enhancing the local automotive manufacturing landscape. "This event and the construction of the production facility mark the further commitment of a transformative journey in the South African automotive industry,” says Minister Tau.

CFAO South Africa, the regional division of the diverse pan-African CFAO Group, headquartered in France, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation in Japan. Toyota Tsusho Africa delivers a range of value-adding solutions for the South African automotive industry. It specialises in supply chain management and production assembly and offers support to customers by procuring and supplying production parts, raw materials, equipment, and production parts assembly.

Andrew Velleman, CEO of CFAO South Africa, says: "CFAO South Africa is a leader in South Africa's mobility market. This joint venture further strengthens CFAO Group's commitment to expansion in South Africa. We are excited about the significant positive impact and value this new plant will bring to the automotive industry and the broader economy. We will continue to drive innovation, growth, transformation, and sustainability in the automotive sector."

Ogihara South Africa will signal the introductory investment into South Africa by Ogihara, the Thailand-based global producer of medium-to-large automotive body parts. Ogihara (Thailand) is a subsidiary of Ogihara Corporation in Japan and is one of Thailand's leading automotive tools, die makers and automotive stamping parts manufacturers. Ogihara has supplied automotive tools, dies and stamping parts to renowned local and international vehicle and truck manufacturers since 1990.

Ogihara Corporation has operated as a vehicle body engineering company since 1951, manufacturing press tools for vehicle body parts. Ogihara Corporation has been manufacturing press tools through technical study with our customers, based on unified data and utilising exact and high-speed processing machines. The joint venture of Ogihara SA is an exciting first expansion into Africa. Ogihara believes in the principle of strong partnerships of trust and looks forward to this joint venture with Toyota Tsusho Africa," says Hiroshi Morita, CEO of Ogihara Thailand. ‘This Joint venture will further expand Toyota Tsusho Africa’s service offering into the manufacturing environment, which is aligned to our strategy to promote local assembly and production in South Africa by partnering with foreign component manufacturers’, says Wayne Bowyer, Managing Director of Toyota Tsusho Africa.

"The inclusion of Ogihara South Africa in our local manufacturing ecosystem will not only create new job opportunities but also enhance our capabilities in producing high-quality body parts for the automotive industry," says Andrew Kirby, president and CEO of Toyota South Africa. "This joint venture marks a significant step towards our LVA (local value addition) improvement strategy by localising the production of these critical components," he states.