Follow us through our history
Our Journey
Time in history - 1964
Where the journey began
Our history and journey began in 1964, when Toyota Tsusho Corporation opened an office in Johannesburg, three years after Toyota began manufacturing vehicles in Durban.
Time in history - 1994
In 1994, the representative office changed to a branch office,
which coincided with Toyota South Africa re-exporting of South African manufactured vehicles.
Time in history - 1999
In 1999, Toyota Tsusho Africa (TTAF) was established as a subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho Corporation,
with offices in Johannesburg and Durban. This set the company up for expansion in response to increasing sales and export demands.
Time in history - 2001
African expansion
In 2001, Toyota Tsusho Corporation acquired Toyota distributors in five African countries: Angola, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe followed soon after with Uganda and a joint venture in Mauritius. Today, our support network extends to Seychelles, Mozambique, Tanzania and Madagascar. A parts and accessories export business was established, and a vehicle logistics centre was set up to provide a central storage facility for Japanese and South African manufactured vehicles.
Time in history - 2006
2006 saw the opening of the Production Support Centre Facility and our Wheel and Tyre Assembly Line.
Value chain optimisation meant extending our production support services to other companies which also support the manufacturing business.
Time in history - 2007
In 2007 our head office became a Production Support Centre in Southgate Business Park.
We also opened a new Vehicle Logistics Centre facility in Southgate Business Park. A signing ceremony took place for associated company, Toyota Tsusho South Africa Processing. Toyoda Gosei opened its South African Airbag Plant in our Production Support Centre Facility.
Time in history - 2012
In 2012, Toyota Tsusho Corporation bought shares in CFAO,
a French company which has been trading in Africa for more than 160 years.
Time in history - 2015
Expansion
Opening of Advics South Africa office and plant in our Production Support Centre Facility Expansion of Toyoda Gosei South Africa operation at our Production Support Centre Facility.
Time in history - 2016
Toyota Tsusho Corporation bought all the remaining shares
of CFAO making them a wholly owned Toyota Tsusho Corporation subsidiary.
Time in history - 2017
In 2017, after acquiring 100% ownership of CFAO, Toyota Tsusho Corporation established
In 2017, after acquiring 100% ownership of CFAO, Toyota Tsusho Corporation established its first regional division, Africa Division. Ownership of all of Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s existing African assets, including Toyota Tsusho Africa, were transferred to CFAO. This was part of Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s strategy to consolidate all the African businesses under one umbrella, the CFAO Group, which now comprises the businesses that are part of Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s Africa Division. This has united all assets across the continent while also maintaining CFAO’s closer regional link to the businesses between France and Africa. It enabled the recognition of the CFAO brand to be continued across Africa. Toyota Tsusho Corporation sees this as an advantage for securing and consolidating the further expansion of its African business because CFAO is a well-established and trusted brand with much experience in trade on the continent.
Time in history - 2018
Together as one group – the birth of three new companies
In 2018, there was a restructure, and three new companies were formed. When Toyota Tsusho Corporation’s and CFAO’s African assets were consolidated under the umbrella of CFAO in France, the South Africa based businesses were still operating as part of Toyota Tsusho Africa. Now required to report to CFAO (France), CFAO South Africa created a new holding company for the businesses: CFAO Holdings South Africa. Toyota Tsusho Africa’s Automotive division became a new company, Africa Mobility Solutions (AMS), part of the new CFAO South Africa group. Toyota Tsusho Africa registered as a new company too, as part of the new group.
Time in history - 2019
Holdings South Africa’s acquisition of Unitrans Automotive.
Now called CFAO Mobility South Africa, the company has brought substantial growth to CFAO South Africa.
Time in history - 2020
We became CFAO’s first regional division, CFAO South Africa Division, with regional offices in Johannesburg and Durban.
By consolidating our operations, we have become an increasingly competitive player in the market and a significant provider of services across the entire automotive industry value chain.
Time in history - 2022
CFAO South Africa acquired CFAO Equipment South Africa – formerly known as the EIE Group in April 2022.
As a leading supplier of world-class material handling equipment and services, CFAO Equipment South Africa quickly becomes a key part of our value chain, offering an end-to-end solution that includes sales, distribution, and rental of new and pre-owned equipment from leading international manufacturers and value-added services for the material handling and industrial market.
Time in history - 2024
Ogihara South Africa was established as a joint venture between Toyota Tsusho Africa (a subsidiary of CFAO South Africa) and Ogihara Thailand.
Construction began on a new R1.2 billion automotive body-part manufacturing plant at the Dube Trade Port in Durban in 2024 and is set to open in July 2025. Ogihara originated in Japan and has been a key player in the automotive manufacturing industry, providing high-quality tools, dies, and stamped parts to vehicle manufacturers worldwide. The establishment of Ogihara South Africa marks its first expansion into Africa, in partnership with Toyota Tsusho Africa, to localise the production of automotive body parts. Ogihara South Africa will focus on producing various automotive stamped body parts. These parts are essential for the assembly of vehicles and will be produced using high-quality, locally procured steel. This localisation effort will not only reduce dependency on imported parts but also enhance the local automotive supply chain.
