If the SA automotive manufacturing industry keeps going the way it is, it is in trouble. That is the warning from Ford Africa president Neale Hill as the local industry navigates logistical problems, affordability, unfair competition and uncertain government policy.

At the SA launch of Ford’s Puma small SUV in November 2023, Hill cautioned that the country’s persistent logistics and energy crises were a “slow poison” that could have grave repercussions for the future of local auto manufacturing which contributes to over 5% of GDP and provides direct employment to more than 33,000 people and hundreds of thousands more in the components supply chain...

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