General Motors South Africa (Pty) Ltd , or GMSA, was a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a ...

of American automobile manufacturer

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

. It manufactured and distributed automobiles under the

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

and Isuzu brands. The deal with Isuzu was approved by the Competition Commission on 27 November 2017. The company was headquartered in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa. The company also built

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

s from 1974 to 1987.GENERAL MOTORS - SOUTH AFRICA
on UtahRails.net

History

Founded in 1913, GMSA initially distributed

vehicles before beginning to manufacture and distribute vehicles of all of GM's brands in 1926, with the Series AA. By the 1960s this included the British

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

marque and the

Ranger A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

, marketed as "South Africa's Own Car". In 1986, it was sold off and rebranded the

Delta Motor Corporation Delta Motor Corporation was a South African car manufacturer, which was created through a management buy-out after General Motors (GM) divested from South Africa in 1986. It was headed by former GM executive, Bob Price, who had returned to South A ...

as a result of the passage of the

Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act The Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 was a law enacted by the United States Congress. The law imposed sanctions against South Africa and stated five preconditions for lifting the sanctions that would essentially end the system of apart ...

in the United States and subsequent

divestment In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is ...

of General Motors from

apartheid South Africa Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Delta continued to use the Opel, Isuzu and Suzuki brands under licence from GM as well as pay for the supply of assembly kits. Following the transition to democracy in the 1990s, GM acquired a 49 percent stake in the company in 1997, and in 2004 the company once again became a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, reverting to its original name. It also assembled vehicles for export to other markets in the region, such as

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northe ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

. General Motors announced its withdrawal from the South African market on 18 May 2017 after GM's top management had informed its workforce and dealers of the decision.

Passenger cars

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

Chevrolet Spark The Chevrolet Spark ( ko, 쉐보레 스파크, translit=) is a city car manufactured by General Motors's subsidiary GM Korea from 1998 to 2022. The vehicle was initially developed by Daewoo and was introduced in 1998 as the Daewoo Matiz ( ko, 대� ...

Lite (2nd gen model) (2010–2017) **

(2004–2017) ** Chevrolet Aveo/Sonic (2004–2017) **

Chevrolet Cruze The Chevrolet Cruze is a compact car that is produced by General Motors since 2008. It was designated as a globally developed, designed, and manufactured four-door compact sedan, complemented by a five-door hatchback body variant from 2011, and ...

(2009–2017) **

Chevrolet Optra The Chevrolet Optra is an automotive nameplate used by the Chevrolet marque for two different compact car models, in the following markets: *Daewoo Lacetti (2004–2013), in markets such as Colombia, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Southeast Asia *B ...

(2005-2011) **

Chevrolet Lumina The Chevrolet Lumina is a mid-size car that was produced and marketed by the Chevrolet division of General Motors from 1989 until 2001. __TOC__ Background The first generation of the Lumina replaced the Chevrolet Celebrity and Chevrolet ...

(2000-2013) **

Chevrolet Vivant Vivant is a small social-liberal political party in Belgium founded by millionaire Roland Duchâtelet. In the regional elections in June 2004, the party formed a strategic alliance with the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD). Both parties ar ...

(2005-2010) **

Chevrolet Orlando The Chevrolet Orlando is a three-row compact MPV manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand since 2011. The first-generation model was mainly developed and manufactured by GM Korea, while also assembled in four other countries. Its ...

(2011–2017) **

Chevrolet Captiva The Chevrolet Captiva is a compact crossover SUV marketed by General Motors under their Chevrolet marque. The first generation was developed by GM Korea, based on the GM Theta platform and derived from the S3X concept car revealed in 2004. Rel ...

(2006–2017) **

Chevrolet Trailblazer The Chevrolet Trailblazer is an automobile nameplate used by General Motors for its Chevrolet brand since 1999 for several SUV models: * TrailBlazer, a name of appearance package for the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer used between 1999 and 2002 * Chevro ...

(2012–2017) **

Chevrolet Blazer The Chevrolet Blazer is an automobile nameplate used by General Motors for its Chevrolet brand since 1969 for several SUV models: * Full-size Chevrolet K5 Blazer, based on the C/K pickup chassis and built from 1969 to 1995 (renamed Blazer in 19 ...

(1999-2005) 11-09-04-iaa-by-RalfR-153

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

Opel Adam The Opel Adam is a city car engineered and produced by the German car manufacturer Opel, and is named after the company's founder Adam Opel. It was sold under the Vauxhall marque in the United Kingdom. It was launched in France at the 2012 Par ...

(2012–2017) **

Opel Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car engineered and produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel since 1982. Throughout its existence, it has been sold under a variety of other brands owned by General Motors (most notably Vauxhall, Chev ...

(5-door) (1982–2017) **

Opel Tigra The Opel Tigra name has been applied to two different cars engineered and produced by the German automaker Opel, both based on different iterations of the Corsa supermini, the first built in Spain, the second in France. The first Tigra was a sma ...

(2004-2009) **

Opel Astra The Opel Astra is a compact car/small family car (C-segment) developed and produced by the German automaker Opel since 1991, currently at its sixth generation. It was first launched in September 1991 as a direct replacement to the Opel Kadett. ...

(5-door, GTC, OPC) (1991–2017) **

Opel Mokka The Opel Mokka is a subcompact crossover SUV that has been produced by German automaker Opel since 2012. Sales began with the model year of 2013, at the end of 2012. The first generation was developed by GM Korea as the U200 Chevrolet Trax. Betw ...

(2012–2017) ** Opel Meriva (2003-2017) **

Opel Zafira The Opel Zafira is a car manufactured and marketed across three generations between 1999 and 2019 by Opel. Based on the Opel Astra platform, it is developed to occupy the multi-purpose vehicle (MPV) segment. The Zafira was also marketed unde ...

(1999-2006)

Commercial vehicles

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ou ...

** Chevrolet Utility (2011–2017) ** Chevrolet Lumina Ute (2004-2013)

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Grou ...

** Opel Corsa Utility (2004–2010) **

Opel Combo The Opel Combo is a panel van and leisure activity vehicle from the German automaker Opel. The Combo first appeared in 1993, a second generation model was introduced in 2001, and the third was manufactured from December 2011 to December 2017, ba ...

(2007-2011) ** Opel Vivaro (2006–2017)

Isuzu

Isuzu D-Max The Isuzu D-Max is a pickup truck manufactured since 2002 by Isuzu Motors. A successor of the Isuzu Faster/KB, the first and second-generation model shares its platform with the Chevrolet Colorado. The third-generation model shares its plat ...

(2002–2017)

Locomotives

In 1974, General Motors South Africa Ltd. began constructing GM-designed locomotives rather than importing them from the United States. In January 1987, GMSA was sold to local management which continued production as the Delta Motor Corporation. The company failed after one order of 11E-Type locomotives were constructed using GMSA leftovers. Delta Motor Corporation focused instead on

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded ...

engines rather than locomotives, shutting down the plant where the locomotives were constructed. The

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

customers for GMSA (1974–1987) were: *

South African Railways Transnet Freight Rail is a South African rail transport company, formerly known as Spoornet. It was part of the South African Railways and Harbours Administration, a state-controlled organisation that employed hundreds of thousands of people ...

* Iscor * African Explosives & Chemical Industries * Anglo-American Coal * Middleburg Steel & Alloys * KwaZulu Finance & Development Corporation *

Port of Richards Bay The Port of Richards Bay is located in Richards Bay harbour on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa, and contains the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) which is the largest coal export facility in Africa. Although originally built to handle coa ...

– coal terminal * Bophuthatswana National Development Corporation

Locomotive models

South African Class 34-600 The South African Railways Class of 1974 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Between December 1974 and July 1976, the South African Railways placed one hundred Class General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric locomotives ...

South African Class 34-800 The South African Railways Class 34-800 of 1978 is a diesel-electric locomotive. Between August 1978 and December 1979, the South African Railways placed fifty Class 34-800 General Motors Electro-Motive Division type GT26MC diesel-electric loc ...

* South African Class 35-200 * South African Class 35-600 * South African Class 36-200 * South African Class 11E

Notes

References

External links

* (archived, 15 Apr 2013) {{Automotive industry in South Africa General Motors factories Motor vehicle assembly plants in South Africa Locomotive manufacturers of South Africa Economy of the Eastern Cape Port Elizabeth 1913 establishments in South Africa South African subsidiaries of foreign companies Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1913 Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of South Africa