Durban - President Jacob Zuma will launch the new Toyota Hilux and Fortuner at the Toyota Prospecton plant in Isipingo, Durban (May 24 2016).
The new Toyota Hilux and Fortuner models form part of Toyota's R6.1-billion investment into South Africa's automotive industry.
Investments bearing fruit
During the State of the Nation Address in February 2016, President Zuma announced that the support provided by Government through the Department of Trade and Industry had attracted investments of over R25-billion in the automotive industry in the past five years and that the investment was beginning to bear fruits.
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Zuma will launch the new models as part of the implementation of the Nine-Point Plan that he announced in 2015 to grow the economy and create jobs. One of the pillars of the is a higher-impact Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) that focuses on increasing "manufacturing-based value addition, employment creation and export-intensity".
It is reported that the investment in the production of the new Hilux and Fortuner vehicle models will support more than 4000 jobs, whilst total employment in the plant already exceeds 8000 jobs.
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