FAW sets up body shop in Coega

FIRST Automobile Works (FAW) Vehicle Manufacturers South Africa, a subsidiary of the Chinabased FAW Group, has established its own body shop facility adjacent to its R600 million truck assembly plant in Coega.

Cheng Zhang, the marketing manager of FAW Vehicle Manufacturers South Africa, said the body shop would enable FAW to build its own truck bodies and had initially created 10 new jobs.

Zhang said the investment in the body shop was included in the R600 million investment in the assembly facility, which was commissioned in July last year.

The body shop had been established to reduce the cost of vehicles by producing the bodies in-house, reduce the lead times on completed units and provide the market with a more cost-effective alternative.

Zhang said it was projected that the body shop would build about 100 tipper bodies in the first quarter of this year.

The company would also progressively expand its truck body offering to possibly include other configurations, even customised trailers, depending on demand from FAW customers through the FAW dealer network.

Zhang said the production team was already assessing the viability of producing drop side bodies for their range of vehicles spanning the medium, heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle ranges on offer in southern Africa while other bodies, such as mixer drums, may also be assessed and considered in the future.

“We have experienced a positive response from numerous of our long-standing customers who have indicated that they prefer a complete vehicle direct from FAW SA. Besides the cost advantages, the warranty and maintenance of their FAW vehicle are also simplified,” he said.

Yusheng Zhang, the chief executive of FAW Vehicle Manufacturers SA, said the company continued its trendsetting path in local truck manufacturing and not only had they managed to produce FAW trucks at the quality levels that were comparable, if not better, than its parent company in China, but was able to do so in a very short run-in period for a plant that only came onstream about six months ago.

FAW Vehicle Manufacturers SA indicated at the opening of the assembly plant in July last year it would offer other original equipment manufacturers the opportunity to make use of its truck body building facility.

The plant supplies trucks to the region in both right-hand and left-hand drive derivatives.

Zhang said 90 percent of the trucks produced to date had been for the South African market and 10 percent exported to Southern African Development Community countries.