Luxembourg-headquartered Inter- national Automotive Components (IAC) reported earlier this month that it had formed a joint venture (JV) with South African automotive flooring, acoustics and trim components supplier Feltex Automotive, which marked IAC’s initial entry into the growing South African automotive market.
The IAC-Feltex JV will be located in the Automotive Supplier Park of the East London industrial development zone.
IAC will provide design, engineering and manufacturing expertise for vehicle interior components, while Feltex will bring product and process expertise, as well as extensive experience in the South African market.
According to IHS’ industry projections, the South African automotive market was expected to steadily increase yearly passenger car production to more than 600 000 units by 2018.
The JV will initially support current production requirements for Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Volkswagen South Africa operations and is positioned to support additional business opportunities.
Further, the facility will support global vehicle programmes, such as the Mercedes C-Class, for which IAC will supply the interior garnish trim, flooring system, trunk trim and exterior wheel arch liners.