Chery South Africa (SA) has moved into its new parts warehouse in Boksburg, Gauteng, 14 months after opening the doors to its previous facility.

The new facility represents a doubling of storage space and available parts.

The new facility will hold stock of R70-million at all times, and stock of up to R100-million if required. This represents more than 4 500 different parts lines.

“In 2022, Chery’s first full year of sales, the company welcomed 13 142 new customers to the brand,” says Chery SA executive deputy GM Tony Liu.

“This is a new record for any new entrant in the South African market, and it makes Chery the seventh most popular brand in the country. We hope to further improve on this ranking in 2023.”

The Chinese importer says it had to find a new warehouse that could support its sales growth, and to prepare for further expansion into other Southern African countries.

“Our choice of the warehouse in Boksburg gives us easy access to all the main arteries in and out of Gauteng,” says Liu.

“It will allow us to dispatch parts to every dealership every day and to receive parts and components for storage throughout the day and night.”

“We are aiming for an industry-leading fill rate of 98%, which will ensure that customers do not wait longer than normal to have their vehicles serviced or repaired,” adds Chery SA aftersales services head Floris du Toit.

Chery’s current fill rate is 97.95%, he notes.

This fill rate also applies to repair parts for vehicles damaged in an accident.

Chery SA says it holds “more than adequate body panels and other vehicle replacement parts that can be ordered by any of its 117 nationally approved panel shops in South Africa”.

The new warehouse will also stock Chery’s range of accessories.

The company adds that it is investigating establishing smaller regional distribution centres that would further improve parts distribution by placing high-volume service parts closer to customers.

The company is also planning the creation of a dealer and staff-training facility at the warehouse.

Meanwhile, Haval Motors South Africa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Great Wall Motors (GWM) in China, has also moved into a new, bigger parts warehouse in Waterfall, in Midrand.

GWM last year celebrated 15 years in South Africa after entering the market in 2007, and later with the Haval brand in 2017.

“Our business and customer base grew significantly during the last two years, adding significant year-on-year growth to our vehicle parc, number of dealers and customer base,” says aftersales head Yusuf Patel.