Beijing Auto will build Inyathi taxi in SA

The South African National Taxi Council (Santaco)‚ BAW and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) on last week announced they had resolved any issues preventing the construction of the assembly plant for the taxis in Springs‚ eastern Johannesburg.

BAW is a Chinese state-owned company. The company's entry into South Africa is supposed to bring competition to the minibus taxi industry. It had created a venture with the IDC to build the plant.

BAW South Africa held 51% equity in the plant project. The IDC held 24.5%. The rest belonged to China Africa Motors‚ which had been importing Inyathis.

The taxi industry wanted to boycott the Inyathi minibus taxi as BAW did not guarantee quality. Santaco suddenly changed its mind after meeting with BAW and the IDC this week.