Thousands of New Cars Damaged By Flooding From Heavy Rain At Toyota South Africa Plant (PHOTOS) 

Flooding from heavy downpour submerged hundreds of brand new vehicles at Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) plant.

Toyota South Africa Motors says its Prospecton plant suffered extensive flood damage, and will impact on delivery of vehicles.

Of the total number of water-damaged vehicles assessed, 500 units have passed inspection and will be retailed.

Toyota South Africa Motors says the remainder of the submerged and water-damaged will be scrapped.

The Prospecton plant manufactures Toyota Hilux Pickup , Fortuner SUV, Corolla Cross and Corolla Quest models.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has temporary suspended operations at its manufacturing plant in Prospecton, south of Durban, due to flooding from heavy downpour that battered parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) last week.

In a statement, TSAM said that the plant had suffered extensive damage.

“The damage caused to the TSAM facility has not yet been fully quantified; a more accurate forecast concerning the resumption of production will be provided once assessments are completed.”

It said from a sales perspective, the natural disaster has impacted our immediate ability to deliver vehicles.

Last weeks flooding left much of the Prospecton plant, which manufactures Toyota Hilux, Quantum, Fortuner, Corolla Cross and Corolla Quest models, submerged in water with hundreds of cars now having to be damaged and scrapped.

“Of the total number of water-damaged vehicles assessed, 500 units have passed inspection and will be retailed. The remainder will be scrapped.”

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It noted that the numerous upgrades put in place at the plant to mitigate future occurrences similar to the one that happened in 2017 couldn’t match the massive water.

“These countermeasures worked successfully at keeping the flood waters at bay, but were unfortunately no match for the mass of water that breached the facility when the banks of the Mlazi River broke.”

Andrew Kirby, president and CEO of TSAM said :

“Our approach and response is to prioritise our staff and their families, ensuring that their safety and wellness comes first.

“This will then be followed by the communities around us, including our extended Toyota family – our dealers and suppliers; in fact, we have already put plans in place to make a sizeable donation to an NGO to assist local communities.”

Leon Theron, senior vice-president of sales and marketing, said that customers whose vehicles were submerged and destroyed will be prioritized :

“This will be easier to facilitate with imported CBU vehicles as these are sourced from other plants. Of course, there is a pipeline for all imported vehicles, but we will try to increase this supply in order to make up for the units lost.

“Locally produced models such as Hilux are more of a challenge and we will be personally reaching out to customers to inform them of the delays in production.”

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