VWSA boss, Thomas Schaefer, said he hoped that the South African car market would not weaken by more than 15% this year.
This, as the country's vehicle manufacturers also bear the brunt of an already weak local market, plunged into further crisis by the Covid19 lockdown which has seen production halted countrywide.
New vehicle sales in South Africa plunged by 98.4% to 574 units in April compared with the same month last year.
New passenger car sales were down 98.3% compared with March of this year, when 33-thousand 546 units were sold.
Vehicle exports in April were down 97.3% at 901 units compared with the same month last year.
Schaefer said two-thirds of their volume out of the Uitenhage plant is for the export market adding that VWSA's export numbers were "slightly down".
He said last year they produced just over 160 000 cars, utilising "massive overtime", while this year, including the down-turn, VWSA was expected to produce around 140 000 units.
"We would still be OK, but we don't really know. The local market is still very weak, we hope that the dealers can go back to work sometime this week. They have very good safety protocols in place," Schaefer said.
He said the month of April "meant nothing because nobody was operating", adding that the Uitenhage manufacturer had lost around 17 000 units during the lockdown.
"Going forward I would see the South African market weaken by hopefully not more than 15%," he said.
Meanwhile, VWSA had slowly started to ramp up production at its Uitenhage plant with strict safety protocols in place.
These include temperature screening of employees, social distancing in the factory, utilising protective gear while canteens are closed and locker rooms have been separated.
The factory is also sanitised during the change of shifts.
