Nissan South Africa has secured a 600-unit-a-month export order from Algeria for its Hardbody 1-ton bakkie. They were previously supplied from Nissan Japan.
Pat Senne, a Nissan SA spokeswoman, confirmed last week that the contract was signed in March. It was open-ended - no fixed term.
She said a strategic decision had been taken to relocate the production to Nissan SA. It was the company's objective to become the exporter of choice of the bakkie model to the Nissan distributor in Algeria.
The order formed part of the opportunity obtained by Nissan SA to export Hardbody vehicles into Mediterranean countries.
"We've secured orders of 600 to 800 a month in the period (from) June 2009 to March 2010," Senne added. "We continue to work with our parent company to secure further agreements that will extend our exports in this region."
Senne confirmed that the strong yen and currency fluctuations had influenced the decision to award the Algerian contract to Nissan SA.
Greg Field, Nissan SA's finance director, told an automotive conference in Tshwane last month that as the yen had progressively strengthened against the dollar, Nissan Japan had found itself in an unbalanced position, with too much made and sourced from Japan, which had hit profitability.
This had prompted Nissan Japan to start looking at other sources, which had created opportunities for Nissan SA.
"Volume expansion for Nissan SA is now being driven from Japan, whereas previously we had to fight for it," Field said. "That is where our opportunity is."
Senne said the total volume of the export order was based on a fixed and forecast period, with vehicles destined for Algeria shipped to Vigo in Europe for tran-shipment to Algiers.
She stressed that Nissan SA was responsible for the export of vehicles to sub-Saharan Africa from South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Europe and Korea. Exports by Nissan SA from all source countries totalled 23 784 units in its last financial year to March, with 8200 of these vehicles shipped from Nissan SA.
A total of 22 000 vehicles were forecast to be exported by Nissan SA in this financial year.
Last year South Africa's motor industry exported a record 284 211 locally produced vehicles, 66 percent more than in 2007, but vehicle exports are projected to decline this year by 33 percent to 191 500, largely because of the severe slump in international demand for new vehicles caused by the global credit crunch. - Business Report