Genral Motors South Africa-Official Statement
General Motors South Africa statement from Steve Koch, President and Managing Director, GM African Operations
Today, General Motors announced that it would continue the rebuilding of its U.S. operations under a court supervised process. This is a progressive step which will position the company to succeed in an increasingly competitive and challenging U.S. automotive industry. In this regard, it is important to note that this code provides for reinvention – as opposed to liquidation – of the company in the U.S. during which business operations continue while the company works with Creditors to arrange a solution under Court supervision.
GM South Africa is not part of this filing in the U.S. and will not be affected by the measures announced today.
Creditors of GM in the U.S. would have no claims on GMSA as we have not guaranteed any U.S. obligations nor are any of our assets used as security for their obligations. We continue to generate our own cash and are responsible for our own viability. We are a self-sustaining operation and as such will continue to operate as normal.
Fortunately, since early 2008, GMSA has taken the tough but required actions to align our business in a manner which will make us globally competitive and allow us to sustain our operations at these low industry levels while putting us in a strong position to gain volume profitably when markets recover. We have successfully stabilised our cash balance, reduced inventory levels and continue to make progress reducing our structural costs, all directed at ensuring profitable growth in South Africa.
General Motors South Africa and our distribution partners will continue to provide full sales and aftersales backing for all our vehicles including honouring all warranties, service and maintenance plans, parts supply and all other areas of aftersales support for the Chevrolet, Isuzu, Opel, HUMMER, Saab and Cadillac brands.
We will soon break ground on our all new R250 million Pan-African Parts Distribution Centre, and we recently welcomed the first shipment of the highly anticipated Chevrolet Cruze to our shores to begin local validation testing prior to the start of sale later this year. These are simply two tangible examples of a company focused on the future with confidence and resolve.
We have operated in South Africa since 1926 and are proud of our long standing history of involvement and support in our local communities. We remain committed to the ongoing investment in our South African operations and together with our dealers have invested R4 billion since 2004, leading to a strong product portfolio backed by excellent distribution and after sales support. Our plans for investment in future product programs for assembly at our production facilities in Port Elizabeth remain on track.
