General Motors (GM) informed employees and unions on Thursday morning that it is quitting South Africa.
Image: Danish Siddiqui REUTERS
Besides its light commercial vehicle manufacturing operations in Struandale‚ Port Elizabeth‚ which it was selling to Isuzu‚ the US car maker intended to cease its South African operations by the end of 2017‚ GM said on its website.
The announcement of its exit from SA and India on Thursday followed a March 5 announcement that GM was exiting Europe by selling its Opel brand to the French maker of Peugeot and Citroën‚ PSA for $2.3bn.
“After a thorough assessment of our South African operations‚ we believe it is best for Isuzu to integrate our light commercial vehicle manufacturing operations into its African business‚” GM’s vice-president of its international operations‚ Stefan Jacoby‚ said in a statement on Thursday morning.
“We determined that continued or increased investment in manufacturing in SA would not provide GM the expected returns of other global investment opportunities.”
GM South Africa committed to continuing to provide service and parts support for Chevrolet customers.
