Germany and China co-brand many items, automoblies, trains, satelites and many other items.  They are brilliant to make partners with the richest country on earth in both money and natural resources.  I have said it before and if I had a hammer I'd pound in people's heads: China builds to the manufacturing specifications a company requests.  Trust me there are beautifully designed and well built appliances in China.  We don't see them in our country under their Chinese nameplates because of competition, tariffs and cost.  Companies distributing their product want it to be cheap to gain a price point in the market they order it cheaply made.  That is not a fault of Chinese work ethic, engineering or technology.  I tend to think that Germany with a history of building fine machines will work closely with China is manufactoring a machine worthy of it's name plate.  The US was dumb not to pursue the options of co-branding with China.  We walked away from a gold mine.

Miele Washer dryers are regarded as the best you can get, they score very well for drying speed and efficiency.

A Bosch would would be a good (and cheaper) alternative, not as good as Miele but certainly better then many other brands.

Looking at the South African website, I don't think the Air condenser models are currently available yet, but they do have the classic water condensed models (WVD 24520 EU) as well as the Siemens equivalent.

The Dryer in my Siemens washer dryer is very good, it has a strong airflow, reasonable drying times and doesn't crease too badly ether. The downside is it guzzles water. I don't know if the SA machines will be different in that respect.

Tom, the scenario you describe is not the norm.  Factories are built to standards which include lighting, ventilation, sanitation and safety.  Workers are all paid a negotiated salary from which taxes, health care and retirement are extracted.  One piece of your story has some validity.  It will be decided a factory is needed and it will be located near the raw material and transportation.  It may be in the middle of now where.  The government will build both dormitories for male only and apartments for families.  There will be services such as grocery, movie, shopping and recreation.  A road will be devloped to the new "town".  Much like our selective service, the government will choose the number of people needed to run the factory and they are relocated.  In China you are not allowed to move without government permission.  Your driver's license, address, auto license and government number must all match to the address where you born, where you applied to move or where the government relocated you. You can travel and there aren't any limits within the country but you are not allowed to move without first applying.  Open waste, forced labor, squallor and confinement to your dormitory are simply nonsense and false.  The standard of living is quickly approaching Western standards and more and more Chinese are buying homes, automobiles (Buick and VW are two co-branded options) and traveling as well.  After my 7 weeks of touring the country and staying in my in laws and assorted relatives homes I could live in China.  There is very little crime, the cost of living is affordable, public services abound, the avenues and parks are clean and safe, and the presence of armed military and police might go far in reducing crime in the USA.  Again, some homes in China have appliances to rival the like of our designer options.  The US and our products don't fare well in China either.  The representation of better quality and reliable service of American products doesn't exist.  No one was more amazed than I was when I saw a country not so unlike our own after expecting mud roads, human drawn carts and no municiple services.  Propoganda goes both ways.

There is a bridge on highway 99 in Seattle that is so popular with suicides that the city appropriated funds to build wire enclosures the full length and both sides of the bridge because all the bodies going kersplat on the concrete was bad for the businesses on the street below.  Desire to escape the oppresion of life is strong even in the progessive city of Seattle.