Tata Motors buys Nissan's South African plant  
The Economic Times — April 5, 2008

In a bid to expand its global footprint, Tata Motors has acquired Japanese auto giant Nissan’s Pretoria-based manufacturing plant for an undisclosed amount. The Nissan plant, which has been unused for a while, was acquired by Tata Africa Holdings.

Sources say the latest acquisition is part of Tata Motors’ strategy to get into assembly and manufacturing in its important export markets. Currently, Tata Motors caters to the African markets from its operations from India, said Tata Motors ED, commercial vehicles, P Telang. Bangladesh is the only other commercial vehicle assembly unit the company has outside India.

It is not clear whether Tata Motors will use this South African unit to manufacture trucks and cars like Indica and Indigo. Initially, it will start with assembly operations and then get into manufacturing its line of products, Mr Telang said.

“South Africa is a major market for us and we cater to a number of markets like Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda and Ghana, said Mr Telang. The company will use South Africa as a sourcing based for components. Tata Africa has presence in over 10 African countries with investments exceeding $100 million. A subsidiary of Tata International, a company with a turnover of $1.6 billion, was established in Johannesburg in 1994.

Meanwhile, Tata Motors saw a 6% jump in its total vehicle sales (including exports) during March 2008 to 66,495 units, against 62,779 units last year. Exports in March stood at 5,765 units, down 9% from 6,299 units last year. The total exports in the fiscal stood at 54,272 units.