Africa "The New Economic Frontier"

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

Africa is the new economic frontier.

That's the word from Ford South Africa CEO and President, Jeff Nemeth, who met the media in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

He said the expansion of the sales and marketing region to include the Africa continent and the Middle East allows Ford to meet the demands of customers in a consolidated, "one voicer" manner.

Nemeth said it also allows them to get better information about African customers needs to their product development and research and development teams.

"We are also working at our network our dealer bodies, throughout Africa we have 16 countries represented, in Sub-Saharan Africa which now is now run out Pretoria. We've actually split Africa up into 4 sub-regions, the Middle East and North Africa are one sub-region, Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Africa are the second region, we are now responsible for all of Sub-Saharan and South Africa." says Nemeth.

Meanwhile, market analyst, Paul De Vantier, has painted a gloom outlook for the economy and the motor industry in general.

De Vantier is the CEO of Lightstone Consumer, a company specialising in consumer research and market analytics for the motor industry.

Speaking at the same briefing he said the industry is heading for tough trading times that, as he put it, will separate the men from the boys.

De Vantier says market forecasts for the motor industry for 2014 has been revised downwards to around 230 000 units and LDV's down to 170 000

He said with most indicators, including business confidence index, in negative territory, what is needed is a "game changer."

"The big thing that could really change this economy, people who are interested in the enviroment are not going to like what I'm going to say, but fracking is probably the one thing that could be a game changer in the next 5 to 10 years." says De Vantier.