American auto maker Ford is increasing its investment in South Africa as it spends an additional 215 million dollars to ramp up production. Nissan and BMW also recently increased production in South Africa. With uncertainty around Brexit, some of the big motor companies have moved parts of their operations out of the UK. CGTN's Sumitra Nydoo reports.

The Ford Motor Corporation wants to increase production in South Africa. It's preparing to add a new shift that will create 1200 jobs to its local workforce of 4300 people. South Africa boasts a high standard in motor manufacturing and continues to receive solid foreign investments.

OCKERT BERRY VICE PRESIDENT-OPERATIONS, FORD MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA "Reliability and repeatability is very important. And all our investment was mainly focused at that and also making sure that we can build the vehicle in line with the standard bill of processes that they use all over the rest of the world."

The additional shift will start in August and will be focused on the Ford Ranger and Everest models. While the vehicles are a popular buy in South Africa, they're also being manufactured for the export market. The Ranger is ranked as the top-selling pick-up in Europe.

OCKERT BERRY VICE PRESIDENT-OPERATIONS, FORD MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA "70% of what we manufacture here is for the export markets. So it is I would say the most important product going into Europe at this stage for Ford Motor Company. So, obviously they keep us very close and they make sure that we stick to our targets and numbers as well. But it is absolutely fantastic just to have a market like that that we can feed into, that continues to grow."

Ford SA has production plants in Port Elizabeth in the eastern part of the country and in Pretoria, north of Johannesburg. The plants will now run 24 hours increasing production to 720 units per day from 506 vehicles currently.

SUMITRA NYDOO JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA "Ford exports its vehicles to 148 countries across the globe. Around a third of the local production is sold here in South Africa and in other sub-Saharan African countries. SN, CGTN, JHB, SA."