South African automotive giant in hot water

Motus’ SA Vehicle Retail division has explained its decision to lay off staff members, cut benefits for hundreds more, and cut salaries by up to 30% for senior management. 

This comes after the company faced strong backlash from employees after engaging with them for several months about the potential job cuts. 

In particular, questions were raised about the timing of the job cuts and the reasoning behind them, with the company having record sales numbers for the second half of the year. 

Motus said the job cuts are in response to a generational shift in South Africa’s new car market caused by the rise in popularity of Chinese vehicles. 

The company has been a laggard in this respect, with it being a slow mover in opening dealerships for Chinese brands. It has not implemented an overhaul of its dealerships, creating multi-franchise outlets with Chinese brands. 

This has enabled the company to create some efficiencies, particularly in relation to back office and support functions, which it said are not sustainable. 

As a result, Motus has had to consider job cuts for these various positions, a reduction in benefits for certain employees, and other measures to maintain profitability. 

It explained that despite sales volumes growing, the rise of affordable Chinese cars has impacted the company’s margins. 

In its latest statement, Motus’s SA Vehicle Retail division said that the current amount of job cuts and the realignment of incentive structures is to prevent additional retrenchments in the future. 

“The company can confirm that it has been able to substantially reduce the initial number of employees expected to be impacted by the realignment process by more than 250 employees,” it said. 

This has reduced the total number of impacted employees from 570 to 318. SA Vehicle Retail explained that the realignment of incentives and benefits is separate from the earlier retrenchment of 67 employees. 

The revised offer tabled with the Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) as an alternative to forced retrenchments, includes the following –

• No adjustments will be made to basic salaries, apart from senior management, who agreed to salary reductions of up to 30% from August 2025.
• The realignment process excludes employees earning below R15,000 per month.
• SA Retail will only re-align incentive structures and company car benefits for administrative and support-related employees in line with industry benchmarks, and by less than 20% of total remuneration.

The company said that the potentially affected employees currently earn, on average, 160% above the published minimum wage set by the Motor Industry Bargaining Council in South Africa. 

Should the revised realignment offer, which is an alternative to retrenchment, be accepted, the affected administrative and support-related employees will still be earning on average 125% above the minimum.

Motus under fire

Despite the company’s efforts, Motus has faced strong pushback from employees, who have pointed to the CEO’s pay package and the company’s sales figures as reasons why jobs and salaries should not be cut. 

They have also said, through the Motor Staff Association (MISA), that their conditions of employment have been changed. 

MISA has declared a dispute with Motus regarding the job cuts and changes to employee benefits, saying that this was a unilateral action taken by the company. 

This has since been escalated to the Labour Court, with MISA filing an urgent application to get an interdict against what it claims was the unilateral change in employment conditions of 275 employees. 

SA Vehicle Retail CEO Gideon Jansen van Rensburg has confirmed that there have not been any changes to conditions of employment or benefits. 

Jansen van Rensburg also clarified that all employees were paid their full salaries and incentives on 23 January 2026. 

To date, the revised offer has not been accepted by MISA, and neither have they put forward any alternative proposals.

“SA Retail remains committed to ongoing engagement with MISA and to maintaining a transparent process, with the aim of finding workable solutions that minimise the risk of further job losses,” Jansen van Rensburg said. 

MISA spokesperson Sonja Carstens said that Motus should have tried alternative methods to the job cuts and changes to benefits for current employees. 

Carstens said that, for example, Motus could have tried alternative methods such as halting benefits for new appointments, rather than taking some away from current employees. 

Carstens explained that Motus’ SA Retail division had record sales for October, November, and December, indicating that the company is doing better than ever. 

“We are not convinced that this drastic measure that has a significant impact on the lives of individuals is really necessary,” she said.