The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), vehicle manufacturers and organised labour have committed to work together to ensure the long-term stability of South Africa's automotive industry.

During a meeting with Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies in Pretoria on Thursday,

key stakeholders agreed to work together to ensure the sustainable competitiveness of the sector by deepening its value chain and taking steps to secure long-term stability of supply and productivity.

According to the DTI, all parties at the meeting endorsed a new initiative by the department, the Automotive Supply Chain Competitiveness Initiative (ASCCI).

In an industry-first for South Africa, a national strategy for competitiveness improvement will be led and implemented through a facilitated steering committee structure, with committed participation from the major national stakeholders.

These include the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) and the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa).

In a joint statement with the DTI, the parties agreed that state support - primarily through the Automotive Production Development Programme (APDP) - had to be complemented "by continuous improvement and competitiveness gains in the domestic value chain".

The steering committee "has already designed a co-ordinating and implementation blueprint of activities to achieve this. This initial set of activities is intended to run from now until 2017".

Key focus areas include supplier operational capabilities, increase localisation and manufacturing value addition, and other strategic issues affecting local supply chain competitiveness.