I recently spent time with Mike Mabasa, CEO of National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) to understand what the announcement from the Government’s Gazette meant for the industry.
Firstly, Mike was elated to know that most of the suggestions put forward together by industry representatives and AutoTrader have yielded positive outcomes. As an industry body, NAAMSA were very clear from the beginning that they needed to get the car dealerships open as it didn’t make sense to only open Original Equipment Manufacturers as they work hand-in-hand to support the ecosystem.
The most exciting part of the announcement according to Mike was the fact that we are now in a position where car dealerships and workshops – which were their biggest concern – not just only selling cars, but also at a point where all the vehicles on South African roads continue to be safe.
Although there are still a few unknown directives for areas such as Vehicle Licensing and Registration, which we will patiently wait to hear about, but until such a time we want to encourage all our dealerships to continue trading..
