saaw update
SAAW Conference and
Workshop Highlights
Several leading international automotive authorities will address industry at South African Automotive Week in
October. The director general of Nigeria’s newly launched Automotive Manufacturing Council, Aminu Jalal; special
advisor to Australia’s collapsed automotive sector, Prof Goran Roos; and UK marketing strategist Steve Rose top
the bill. The two day plenary Automotive Industry Conference programme also features local dignitaries including
NAAMSA and Toyota CEO, Dr Johan Van Zyl, Nissan CEO Mike Whitfield and NAACAM director Robert Houdet,
among others.
U
K based Steve Rose of Kotler
Marketing will present one of four
workshops titled Defending the
Price which aims to equip suppliers with the
resources and software model with which
to record and demonstrate value added
to clients with a view to strengthening the
price negotiation. The three additional
workshops, either half day or full day
are around “Tooling and Manufacturing
Innovations”, “Electric Vehicle development
in South Africa” and “The Power of the
Internet as a Sales channel for cars and
parts, sponsored by Gumtree”
The two-day Automotive Industry
Conference, which runs concurrently with
a range of events, including a 15 000m²
tradeshow, addresses two of the most
current global automotive developments.
The first relates to an announcement by
the Nigerian government to ensure that
not less than 12 automobile manufacturing
firms would set up vehicle assembly plants
in Nigeria by the end of the year and that
import duties would be imposed on all
vehicle brands, currently all fully imported
into Africa’s largest economy.
The developments in Nigeria hold major
threats and opportunities for the South
African auto supply chain, itself seeking
to conquer African markets. National
Association of Automotive Components
and Allied Manufacturers of South Africa
(NAACAM) executive director Robert
Houdet says Nigeria’s development and the
Australian industry’s collapse, which could
trigger the loss of over 30 000 jobs, would
provide valuable insight for South African
auto companies.
Houdet says learning from the Australian
and EU crisis would be unpacked to
industry at South African Automotive
Week, by global manufacturing doyen and
advisor to Australia’s shattered automotive
industry, Goran Roos, whom Houdet says is
“arguably the most capable of sharing these
lessons.” Roos will be a keynote speaker
at the two-day conference, which forms
part of the South African Automotive Week
Tradeshow at Gallagher Convention Centre
on October 14 and 15. “There is much
learning that the South African industry has
to contemplate and implement to ensure
the sustainability of our own industry,’’
Houdet says. The shock announcement,
within months, confirming the closures of
Ford, GM H