Isuzu plans South Africa as hub for African truck production

By Nqobile Dludla

The South African arm of Japanese automaker Isuzu Motors aims to be the manufacturing hub of commercial trucks for the African market, helping it increase volumes and locally sourced parts, its president said.

Billy Tom, President and CEO of Isuzu Motors South Africa told Reuters he has been engaging with Japan on the plan.

“We’re saying to them, instead of producing vehicles in Japan, you’ve got a facility in Africa. We can produce the vehicles here,” Tom said.

Isuzu has done some successful trials of manufacturing a truck and its body locally, Tom said. Some of its truck bodies are imported from countries like China and the Middle East.

The company’s South African plant manufactures Isuzu D-MAX pickup trucks, assembles medium-heavy and extra-heavy commercial trucks and imports the Isuzu MU-X SUV for distribution to African markets.

Its export volumes for trucks into the rest of Africa are very