Majority of OEM approval programmes now finally open

Green said this is finally providing a much fairer, unrestricted and competitive business environment in the MBR sector, which is not only helping to grow small businesses, but also stimulating much-needed employment in the sector. Sambra first met with most of the South African-based vehicle manufacturers and importers (OEM) in late 2019 to discuss and debate the best way forward in terms of their approval programmes. “One of Sambra’s key strategic objectives at the time was to ensure within the quickest possible time frame that OEMs opened their approval programmes to any Sambra member who was willing to invest in their business and was in a position to meet the OEMs’ application criteria,” he explained. VWSA has always had an open programme. Since the aforementioned meeting, many other OEMs have opened their programmes under the Sambra strategy. Green said this is really positive, particularly in light of the Competition Commission’s Guidelines coming into effect on July 1 this year. “There are still a number of challenges for Sambra to attend to before we can say that we have successfully broken down the barriers that prevent members from competing fairly with one another. We will, however, remain focused on those until all restrictions have been removed that hinder an open and fair industry,” Green concluded. Source: JACQUI@FINDLEYPR.CO.ZA