Volkswagen SA plans to build a new range of pick-ups at its Uitenhage plant near Port Elizabeth. The German-owned company, which has traditionally concentrated its local efforts on cars and minibuses, has set its sights on becoming a major supplier across the entire SA vehicle market.

VW will shortly start building heavy trucks, followed early next year by passenger buses. But it is the plan to add pick-ups, probably in 2008 or 2009 that will cause rivals most concern. The German parent announced this month that it was preparing to launch a high-volume pick-up. VW SA MD Andreas Tostmann confirmed to the FM on Tuesday that SA is one of three countries where it will be built. The others are Argentina and Germany.

"We want to offer everything from light cars to heavy trucks," says Tostmann.

In the past VW has been a market leader in the car segment but not much else. Without naming Toyota, it is clear Tostmann has the long-time overall market leader in mind when he says: "Our overall goal is to play a major role. We are not good enough in commercials but that will change. It's too early to say that by 2010 or 2011 we are aiming for overall market leadership, but we know where our competitor is strong and we want to do our homework."

Unlike Toyota, which is about to discontinue production of its popular entry-level Tazz, Tostmann says there are no plans to halt manufacture of the VW CitiGolf, which is now 28 years old. It may need some work to meet forthcoming emissions standards but "we will do whatever is necessary".

The car sold in record numbers last year and "we will stay with it". For how much longer? "I cannot say it is going to stop in the next two or three years," he says ambiguously.

The company will broaden its product offerings further in June with the launch of the Seat brand, imported from Spain.
The Seat will be positioned between the VW and Audi brands. Tostmann hopes Seat's sporty image will prove popular and that it will eventually garner up to 2% of the SA car market.

VW SA this week staged the official roof-wetting of its new R750m paint shop, which should meet the company's paint needs for the next 15 years.

With VW committed to long-term export programmes, the paint shop is a vital piece of the equation for the manufacturer to keep up with global production standards.

Tostmann adds that further capital expenditure at Uitenhage over the next three years will be about R2bn.