Intro: Ford products have been in the South African automotive market for more than 70 years. A subsidiary company, Ford South Africa was founded by Ford of Canada in 1923 and, in 1924, Ford opened its 16th assembly plant outside North America located in Port Elizabeth.
In 1964, Ford began engine assembly at the Port Elizabeth plant.
Ford South Africa merged with the automotive operations of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa (AAC) and Anglo American Industrial Corporation Limited (AMIC) in 1984 to form the South African Motor Corporation (Pty.) Limited (SAMCOR), which was based in Silverton, Pretoria.
In February 2000, it was announced that Ford and Anglo American had entered into an agreement for Ford Motor Company to increase its investment in South Africa by increasing the Company's interest in SAMCOR to 90 percent. On August 21, 2000 the name of the Company was officially changed to Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa and early in 2001, Ford Motor Company became 100% owner of its South African operation. It has also been assembling the Volvo S40/V40 from CKD kits supplied from The Netherlands since March, 2000. The new generation S40/V40 was introduced in 2004, but assembly ended in March, 2006
In 2001 Land Rover production was taken over from BMW South Africa. In 2005 it was announced that production of the Defender will be centralized in Solihull, ending South African assembly.
The new Focus, which was introduced in 2005 became a key product for the factory. It is being exported to South Asia and Australia. |
