Our Bureau
Durban
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. one of the leading companies in the automobile sector India is making big moves. The company is looking to boost its capacity at its plant situated in South Africa by around two-third so that they capitalise on the heavy demand of low-cost vehicles in the continent’s biggest economy.
As per the Chief Executive Officer of Mahindra, Rajesh Gupta, this boost will be received by the company’s assembly plant near Durban which is known for manufacturing the Pik-Up brand of Mahindra. They will welcome a heavy shift in workload as they will now be producing 1500 vehicles a month from its previous total of 900 vehicles.
This decision comes at a time when South Africa is seeing a high surge in the demand of economical cars due to the low growth in the country. The sales of budget friendly automobile giants have seen a rise. Companies like Mahindra, Suzuki Motor Corp. and China’s Chery Automobile Co. are riding the sales while companies like Mercedes-Benz Group AG and BMW AG are struggling.
As per the data given recorded by the most popular automobile brand of South Africa, Toyota Motor Corp, in the past two years the average selling price of cars has dropped by 2.3%. The average selling price has dropped down to 490,478 rand ($27,600). While the price has dropped the annual inflation has averaged around 4.5%.
Mahindra’s plant in Dublin, which was established 7 years back in 2018, assembles pickups that have gained popularity amongst the local farmers in the city. They are even used by the police department in the neighboring Mozambique. The company also sells other sports utility vehicles in the continent including the XUV 3XO, XUV 700, Scorpio-N and Bolero.
