The export of built-up vehicles from South Africa has slumped 6,8 per cent while Mercedes-Benz SA prepares to restart shipping C-Class models to destinations outside South Africa's borders.

The company had a long shutdown period as the plant in East London was upgraded and new jigs and equipment installed to start assembly of the new generation C-Class. This resulted in MBSA shipments for the first nine months of 2007 totalling only 1 657 units compared with 18 604 the previous year.

Toyota SA, with increased output of its Hilux and Fortuner export models, accounted for almost 35 per cent of the total shipments of 120 725 vehicles sent across the borders in the period under review.

The company's share for the first three quarters of 2006 had stood at 24 per cent. Exports by the local market leader will jump again in March next year when it starts shipping the new Corolla to countries in Africa and Europe.

Toyota's total exports of 42 095 units - made up of 41 033 Hiluxes and 1 062 passenger cars - was an improvement of 34,5 per cent over the 31 286 units shipped in the same nine months a year earlier. BMW is in strong second place although it only increased its exports from 28 976 to 29 125 units year-to-date.

The other major volume exporters were Volkswagen at 25 913 - one unit more than in the corresponding period in 2006 - and Ford SA, which shipped 11 086 Focus cars. That was only 65 per cent of the 16 702 cars shipped a year ago.

Ford is evidently now looking for a replacement model for its export programme as the next generation Ford Focus will be built in Australia and no longer at Silverton.

A total of 3912 Hummer H3s were shipped by General Motors SA in the first nine months of the year, while the Port Elizabeth-based company also saw a reasonable increase in the number of Isuzu pick-ups shipped from South Africa into African countries, with the total rising 27,5 per cent to 1 482 units.

Nissan, which is preparing to increase its export efforts into Africa in the future, saw its shipments slide 17,2 per cent between January and September 2007, compared with the same nine months in 2006.

Japan was the country that took most of the vehicles shipped outside the African continent - 31 961 units - with BMW and Volkswagen the major contributors to this total. Three other companies shipped vehicles to Japan, namely Toyota (1 098), Mercedes-Benz (283) and Nissan (178).

Other big markets for SA exports were Australia (23 234 units), the United States (8 403), France (4 238) and the United Kingdom (3 940).

Exports into Africa rose by 20 per cent in the first nine months of 2007, compared with the corresponding period in 2006, going from 22 098 to 26 610 units. Toyota took the lion's share of almost 75 per cent, with only two other companies shipping more than one thousand units in this period. Those two were Nissan, with 4 089 (eight units less than the position in September 2006), and General Motors (1 482 Isuzu bakkies).

Algeria (6 726 Toyotas) was the most popular destination, followed by Nigeria (4 328), Zimbabwe (2 648), Angola (2 110), Ghana (1 864) and Zambia (1 796).