New appointment at Dunlop Tyres South Africa
Dunlop Tyres South Africa has announced the appointment of Thuli Gasa as Head of Corporate Services, serving as a full member of the Executive Committee.
- Industry News
- 31 May 2025
Volkswagen South Africa (VWSA) is exploring its options of multi-franchise facilities with other brands.
The brand confirmed this to Dealerfloor, saying that there will be specific requirements for such requests that include clear brand separation and only limited to rural dealers.
While VWSA has confirmed the speculation, a spokesperson for VWSA says that there is no set date for implementation yet.
VW, like Toyota, has been fastidious in insisting on standalone showrooms with strict brand rules. But as the market has stagnated and more contenders from Asia have entered the market, it appears that VWSA will allow multi-franchise showrooms to support dealer viability.
Multi-franchise dealerships have grown in popularity among dealers of brands such as Nissan and Ford. Both these brands have lost much of their volume line-up, leaving dealers to scramble for affordable alternatives such as Mahindra, Suzuki (now the best-selling brand after Toyota), Chery, Omoda and Jaecoo and more recently MG and Jetour.
Volkswagen remains a very important part of the South African automotive landscape. Based in Kariega, the company built its first Beetle on local soil in 1951. It remains a core supplier of the current-generation Polo to left- and right-hand drive markets across the world and it also builds the Polo Vivo for the local market.
The company recently announced that it will build a third model on the same line as the Polo and Polo Vivo, starting in 2027. This third model – expected to be the VW Tera from Brazil – will give dealers a strong foothold in the ever-growing SUV market.
In a recent presentation Martina Briene (Chairperson and Managing Director: Volkswagen Group Africa) said she didn’t want protection because I’m not a protectionist advocate, “but we need to incentivise local business, local manufacturing and local trading”.
Speaking at a National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) Connect 25 event recently, she mentioned a series of challenges faced local manufacturers.
She said huge investments in infrastructure and costs aspects relating to a constant supply of power, the situation at the ports, transport and logistics all affect the eventual cost of the vehicle compared to cheaper imports from elsewhere.
Dunlop Tyres South Africa has announced the appointment of Thuli Gasa as Head of Corporate Services, serving as a full member of the Executive Committee.
The South African Reserve Bank’s decision to lower interest rates by 25 basis points – bringing rates to their lowest level in more than two years – has been cautiously welcomed by the retail motor sector.
“South Africa’s youth are talented, hungry to learn and eager to work, but they need the opportunity to gain real-world skills that translate into jobs,” says Thembinkosi Pantsi, Vice-Chairperson of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA).
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If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will.
Bob Hooey
South Africa’s top-performing Finance & Insurance (F&I) professionals in the automotive retail sector were honoured at the prestigious 2025 Lightstone Auto Star Reacher F&I Awards held this past weekend.
Whether you are an owner or your dealership is owned by a corporate, it always has a value. In broad terms, this value is made up of two parts. The first is the net asset value of the dealership and the second is the goodwill of the dealership. It is on this basis that most motor dealerships are bought or sold.
Mitsubishi Motors South Africa has awarded dealers and select dealership staff for strong performances across a variety of dealership roles.