Volkswagen South Africa, in partnership with catalytic converter and exhaust system manufacturer, Eberspacher SA, has secured a R12-billion, five-year contract to supply the Volkswagen Group with diesel particulate filters (DPCs) for the treatment of exhaust gases.

This is one of the largest contracts for a single component awarded to a South African firm. The two companies will have invested approximately R55-million in tooling and equipment to manufacture the filters. In addition, an investment of R26-million is being made in local suppliers to the project with 80per cent of these firms based in the Nelson Mandela Bay region. The new contract will create about 100 additional jobs and an intensive training initiative.

The manufacturing process to be used is one of the most modern in the world and is known as calibrated stuffing, which uses laser measuring and sizing technologies.

Production is scheduled to start in November and parts will be shipped to the VW Group’s Kassel plant in Germany for completion and onward despatch the various user plants in the global VW supply network.

Meanwhile, Volkswagen SA has secured new a contract that will boost the Eastern Cape vehicle manufacturers’ fully built-up export volumes to a record of more than 40 000 units this year. One of the new contracts involved exporting 10 260 Jettas to Australia, New Zealand, Japan and the United Kingdom.