VW boss sees bright future

IT was a challenging year for one of South Africa’s biggest car manufacturers, but one year on Volkswagen SA head Thomas Schaefer is optimistic about the company’s future.

Marking a year at the company’s helm yesterday – having taken over from David Powells – Schaefer said 2015 was a good year, despite a slight decline in vehicle sales. Dubbed “the people’s MD”, Schaefer spent his first year in the new position getting to know staff across the company’s different levels through his meet-and-greet sessions, often going down to the shop floor to have lunch with workers.

“[Last year] saw us . . . achieve our production targets of 120 000 vehicles with some 53 623 Polos manufactured for South Africans and 66 377 for overseas markets,” he said. Last year, the company injected R4.5-billion into the region’s economy, a major confidence boost despite a poor economic outlook. Of that, more than R3-million was for upgrades to the Uitenhage plant in preparation for two new car models to be manufactured by next year. A further R22-million was allocated for staff training, while about R1.5-billion was to go towards the company’s supplier base.