Volkswagen of South Africa welcomes the World Cup

At Volkswagen of South Africa ‘soccer fever’ has spread fast.  Altogether, four roadshows, over the last four weeks have been presented to staff at the company’s Uitenhage plant as a lead up to the official kick-off today.  The events took place during the employees’ lunch-break to ensure that the current production volume of 600 vehicles per day is maintained.

Thousands of employees have streamed to the event over the past four weeks, with the atmosphere reaching fever pitch when the infamous Diski Dancers took to the stage.  The Diski Dance uses soccer moves as components of the choreography.  (Diski is a South African word for soccer.)

Volkswagen of South Africa is making the World Cup accessible to all its employees by installing big screen TV’s in all the production areas so staff can watch the South African games.  A further 6 000 South African National Team t-shirts and 7 000 vuvuzelas (traditional trumpets) have been handed over to staff with 1,636 soccer tickets up for grabs as employee incentive programmes and lucky draws.

Over 100 journalists from 15 countries will also be guests of Volkswagen in South Africa during the World Cup.  Volkswagen Group, Group Works Council and Volkswagen Group South Africa will be showcasing benchmark CSI in the region’s underprivileged communities.  The Volkswagen Group has invested around EUR 500 million over the last four years in refurbishing its Uitenhage plant.  VW of SA manufactures the Polo and Cross Polo and exports engines to India and China.

Volkswagen of South Africa is, to date, the largest German investment in sub-Saharan Africa.