Engineering News reports that motor vehicle sales grew by 25 percent in February with the Eastern Cape-produced VW Polo Vivo being placed as the second best seller in passenger vehicles, trailing a few notches behind Toyota Hilux.

Rising passenger vehicles indicate that consumers are beginning to relax their grip on their purse strings, becoming less cautious.

Commercial property development in Uitenhage shows that the business and investor community views on the province are positive and they see it as poised for growth.

According to another Engineering News story , Volkswagen Group South Africa (SA) has started construction of a new 11 000 m² press shop at its Uitenhage plant. The R500 million investment is in addition to the R4, 5 billion already invested by the company in the country over the past four years. Fifty new construction jobs have been created in the process.

Volkswagen manufactures the new Polo for the local and export markets as well as the Polo Vivo for the domestic market.

Queenstown, a steadily growing Eastern Cape business hub, is laying the groundwork for a R500 million shopping centre development, which is expected to be completed in December 2012,property24.com reports. The new regional shopping mall is to be developed on the N6 Cathcart Road, opposite the rapidly emerging Komani Park in the town.

The province, also known as the "Little Detroit", is, by and large, a major player in South Africa's automotive industry.  It boasts two industrial development zones with vast underutilised natural resources, making it fertile ground for commercial agriculture development and agro-processing.

The government's renewed focus on agro-processing sector and rural development means doors have been opened for Eastern Cape rural dwellers who now have the opportunity to meaningful participate in the mainstream economy.

Now that the national budget has been announced and the third largest provincial allocation is going to the Eastern Cape, the province's private and public sector leaders keenly await the Eastern Cape MEC finance MEC Phumulo Masualle's budget speech as he shares how the province is to spend this budget during the coming year.