DURBAN - Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) says activities at is Prospecton plant have been suspended while assessment and clean-up takes place after last week’s flooding.
It said that the plant had suffered extensive damage.
“The damage caused to the TSAM facility has not yet been fully quantified; a more accurate forecast concerning the resumption of production will be provided once assessments are completed.”
It added that after the floods in 2017, numerous upgrades were put in place to mitigate future occurrences including the installation of pumps and piping within the plant to disperse water as well as maintaining the water-drainage channels surrounding the facility.
“These countermeasures worked successfully at keeping the flood waters at bay, but were unfortunately no match for the mass of water that breached the facility when the banks of the Mlazi River broke.”
It said no staff suffered injuries on-site.
TSAM said it would like to extend sincere condolences to the families who have suffered loss as a result of the catastrophic flooding.
Andrew Kirby, president and CEO of TSAM said: “Our approach and response is to prioritise our staff and their families, ensuring that their safety and wellness comes first.
“This will then be followed by the communities around us, including our extended Toyota family - our dealers and suppliers; in fact, we have already put plans in place to make a sizeable donation to an NGO to assist local communities.”
It said from a sales perspective, the natural disaster has impacted our immediate ability to deliver vehicles.
“Of the total number of water-damaged vehicles assessed, 500 units have passed inspection and will be retailed. The remainder will be scrapped.”
Leon Theron, senior vice-president of sales and marketing, said that customers whose vehicles were destroyed, will be prioritised: “This will be easier to facilitate with imported CBU vehicles as these are sourced from other plants. Of course, there is a pipeline for all imported vehicles, but we will try to increase this supply in order to make up for the units lost.
“Locally produced models such as Hilux are more of a challenge and we will be personally reaching out to customers to inform them of the delays in production.”
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