SA seeking its lane in future of car production
Local industry is out of step with international innovation priorities
In Japan, Nissan has just announced that its latest self-driving system, which will relieve motorists of the need for hands-on control, should be ready later this year. The ProPilot 2.0 will enable cars to maintain following distances, switch lanes and overtake on motorways without humans touching the pedals or steering-wheel. In Germany, Mercedes-Benz says it is working towards a 2030 deadline to build only plug-in hybrid or fully electric cars. In the US, motor and technology companies are falling over each other to be first to market with autonomous vehicles and zero-emission cars. In SA, the motor industry's biggest challenge is to find a black-owned company able to make nuts and bolts. Automotive may be big business in the local economy - it accounts for 29% of SA's manufacturing output, 16.2% of exports and 6.8% of GDP - but it's a baby in global terms. In 2018, SA was responsible for 0.64% of the world's vehicle production: 610,854 out of 95,634,593. It's a mismatch reflected...
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