Cape Times

The BAIC plant is finally up and running

THE updated BAIC Beijing X55 luxury SUV is easing off the assembly line at the company’s impressive facility at Coega, in the Eastern Cape, putting to rest some speculatio­n that it was just an empty shell.

Although the 70000m² was commission­ed in 2016 and heading for completion, the Covid lockdown scuppered all those plans and the entire operation had to be restarted, delaying plans for actually getting the semiknocke­d down units built and to local dealers.

BAIC Automobile South Africa was establishe­d in 2016 as a joint venture between the China BAIC Group and the South African Industrial Developmen­t Corporatio­n, in which the BAIC group owns 65% of the shares and the IDC owns 35% of the shares.

In its current assembly-only status, the plant has a potential capacity to produce up to 50000 units a year on the highly automated production line, but currently actual production is well below this with limited quantities of the Beijing X55 model coming off the production line to be shipped to the 52 dealers around the country.

Once local demand hits about 20 000 units, the plant will evolve into a full-scale manufactur­ing hub. The space will soon be bustling with the clamour of presses and an extensive production line, featuring an even greater number of robots diligently at work.

At present, only 45 workers are necessary to oversee assembly and quality control in conjunctio­n with the existing robots.

“The plant was commission­ed and constructe­d, only to be stalled by the advent of Covid-19. During the lockdown, operations came to a complete halt, sparking rumours and doubts on social media about the company’s actual capability to produce cars, explained quality assurance manager Ralton Turner.

“It took a considerab­le amount of time post-lockdown to resume activities and reach our current level of operation.”

Following its recent local relaunch, Foton – a subsidiary of BAIC – promptly announced its intention to assemble vehicles at the BAIC plant and BAIC has already assembled one as a test along with two heavy commercial­s from a different Chinese company.

“We are talking with a number of Chinese automakers about the possibilit­ies of doing joint-venture assembly or manufactur­ing deals as the capacity in the plant grows,” added Turner.

“So, our mission is to transform your world with passion,” said BAIC SA managing director Yang Yi Xin.

“We are committed to developmen­t in the automobile industry and are committed to creating new jobs in this area.”