Delta Motor Corporation

This article is about the defunct South African car company. For the defunct Philippine car company, see Delta Motors 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.[1] It was headed by former GM executive, Bob Price, who had returned to South Africa from Detroit.[2] He had previously served as General Motors South Africa's managing director between 1971 and 1974, and later became president of Motors Trading Corp., a subsidiary that engages in international trade on behalf of GM.[3]

Delta continued to use the Opel, Isuzu and Suzuki brands under licence from GM as well as pay for the supply of assembly kits.[4] Delta also exported small numbers of cars to neighboring, right-hand drive markets. Delta Motor Corporation introduced a number of efficiencies and performed considerably better than GM ZA had been able to do.[5]

Following the transition to universal suffrage 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, General Motors South Africa.[6] GM ZA also assembled vehicles for export to other right hand drive markets in the region, such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya, and Mauritius.[7]

  1. ^ "General Motors South Africa Overview". General Motors. 2013-12-10.[dead link]
  2. ^ Cowell, Alan (December 31, 1986). "The Ambiguity of South African-Divestment". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  3. ^ "Bob Price, Former General Motors Manager in South Africa, Dead". Associated Press. October 12, 1987. Archived from the original on 2018-09-07.
  4. ^ Sanctions Against Apartheid. New Africa Books. 1989. p. 230.
  5. ^ Mabasa, Wilson (January 1996), Local content protection in the motor vehicle industry in South Africa, 1960 - 1990 (PDF), Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of Natal, p. 79, archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-07-27
  6. ^ "GM to slip into Delta's driving seat". CARmag. Cape Town, South Africa. 2003-10-30. Archived from the original on 2020-12-05.
  7. ^ Nieuwenhuis, Paul; Vergragt, Philip; Wells, Peter (2006), The Business of Sustainable Mobility: From Vision to Reality, Greenleaf Publishing, p. 167, ISBN 9781874719809