Mazda Southern Africa announced that Bonite van der Merwe, current Head of Operations Sales and Service, will be appointed as the new MD of Mazda SA Pty Ltd, effective 1 October 2025.
The current Managing Director, Craig Roberts, who led the Mazda business in the Southern African market for the past eight years, will leave Mazda SA to take up a role and business opportunity in a related but non-Automotive industry.
Bonite, a qualified Chartered Accountant, has been a member of the Mazda SA Organisation Management and Senior Management teams for the past 11 years, having served in the roles of Finance Manager and Head of Finance and Corporate Affairs before the current Head of Operations role.
“Bonite, who has been on board with Mazda SA since the inception of Mazda SA as an Independent National Sales Company of Mazda Motor Corporation in 2014, is ideally positioned to assume the leadership role for Mazda in SA,” comments Roberts.
“Experience across all areas of the Mazda SA Business, as well as a strong commitment to Mazda’s Customer Centric and Human Centric values, will stand her in good stead to lead Mazda’s Business in the SA Market," he says.
Mazda SA remains committed to its SA Customers and Dealer Invested Partners and is excited about the Mazda Brand's future product line-up. This includes the All-New Mazda CX-5, which is heading for the SA market.
In addition, Customer Centric Product elements such as its “industry leading” Unlimited Mileage Warranty and Service Plans, including the “first to market” customer service such as “Courtesy Service Vehicle Programs” and “Lifetime Replacement Parts Warranty”.
For decades, buying a car has been as much about emotion as practicality. Shiny brochures, polished showroom floors and persuasive sales talk often overshadowed the cold, hard numbers of ownership. But today, where information is currency, consumers are no longer satisfied with glossy marketing – they want data, and they want it now.
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I always do like seeing other people dance in their cars. It's one of the things that makes me happy.
Ariel Gore
For decades, buying a car has been as much about emotion as practicality. Shiny brochures, polished showroom floors and persuasive sales talk often overshadowed the cold, hard numbers of ownership. But today, where information is currency, consumers are no longer satisfied with glossy marketing – they want data, and they want it now.
According to a Reuters report, South Africa is engaged in discussions with Chinese automotive manufacturers to encourage local investment, with at least one company showing considerable interest in establishing production facilities in the country, a senior government official revealed on Wednesday.
Europe’s automotive sector, once a global leader, is facing what McKinsey describes as “the largest transformation in the industry’s history”.
