GM’s departure is not personal Mzansi, you are just not China
The maker of Chevrolets never recovered from the 2008 crisis
Braaivleis, rugby, sunny skies and Chevrolet. This popular advertising jingle summed up the (white) South African good life of the early 1980s. A third of a century later and what do we have? Chevrolet’s leaving and the jury’s out on South African rugby. Oh well, two out of four’s not bad. The announcement last week by US automotive group General Motors (GM) that it would disinvest from SA at the end of 2017 will bring down the curtain on a relationship that has endured for more than a century. The company, which owns the Chevrolet brand, has disinvested from SA before, but then it continued to make vehicles available to local consumers. Not this time. The parting will be absolute. The US company is selling all its South African assets including the Struandale vehicle assembly plant in Port Elizabeth, to Japanese commercial vehicle company Isuzu. The plant builds three vehicles: the Chevrolet Spark, Chevrolet Utility light pick-up and Isuzu KB one-tonne pick-up. From 2018, Isuzu Mot...
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