Local business and labour have welcomed the almost doubling of production for the East London-built new C-Class Mercedes Benz.
DaimlerChrysler chairpersson Christoph Kopke said this week that the East London plant would be producing around 80 000 of the new C-Class from 2007 — up from the 45 000 a year for the current W203 model.
Border/Kei business chamber chief executive officer Les Holbrook said it was great news for the region as the production increase translated into jobs and more visitors.
”But the bigger picture is that it is a hell of a significant and positive sign that says ‘we are here to stay’… It says that we are not only part of this region but a major player in terms of showing the rest of the country the opportunities that lie here.”
He added that the company was now compelling component manufacturers to visit the province.
The knock-on effect was going to be enormous and would lead to most of the suppliers making more of their product and would have to expand and take on more staff, Holbrook said.
National Ports spokesperson Terry Taylor said the announcement was excellent news for East London and would increase the case for the port to get moving on its proposed outer expansion to increase its container capacity.
”This is going to promote a lot of good energy for the city. We can handle the additional capacity of both the cars and components. We now need to improve our infrastructure to attract further investment.”
The National Ports Authority and National Port Operations want to be able to provide facilities ahead of the demand to make sure the port has capacity for growth and investment.
”The increase in production will not have any impact on our very good turn around times and service levels but we will still try and improve on those things,” Taylor said.
He added that the production of the new model could lead to an improvement in the number of component manufacturers looking at the IDZ here, ”hopefully to make goods for export to the automotive market around the world”.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa was also delighted at the announcement.
Numsa spokesperson Dumisa Ntuli said that the decision would lead to the creation of ”very necessary jobs and the development of skills in the impoverished Eastern Cape”.
He also praised Daimler Chrysler for showing its commitment to South Africa ”with large long-term investment”. – Sapa