{"id":90965,"date":"2025-10-03T13:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy"},"modified":"2025-10-03T14:45:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:45:49","slug":"international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy","title":{"rendered":"International Car Brands Support South Africa’s Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South Africa has secured commitments from Chinese and Indian car companies to upgrade their semi-knocked-down (SKD) vehicle assembly operations to full-scale manufacturing, the South African trade minister said on Thursday, as industry leaders call for more domestic production.<\/p>\n

The government is in talks with multinational carmakers, who have South African factories \u2013 including Toyota and Ford and their suppliers \u2013 on ways to safeguard the industry\u2019s future as it navigates declining production volumes, stiff competition from China, tariff uncertainty and an expensive shift to electric vehicles.<\/p>\n

Auto leaders warned on Wednesday at an annual auto conference that if South Africa does not protect its industry from imports, it risks driving de-industrialization in the country.<\/p>\n

Speaking after recent engagements with industry players in China and India, Trade Minister Parks Tau told delegates at the conference that \u201cin both those markets, the companies that currently have SKD operations in South Africa have committed to transition to CKD (complete knocked down).\u201d<\/p>\n

The SKD manufacturing technique involves turning partially assembled kits into finished vehicles, while CKD puts together cars from parts delivered to the site.<\/p>\n

Chinese brand Beijing Auto Industrial Corporation (BAIC) has an SKD assembly of its Beijing X55 crossover model in port city Gqeberha, home to Isuzu and Volkswagen. The plant is designed to eventually shift into a CKD assembly.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, India\u2019s Mahindra assembles semi-knocked-down pick-up trucks in Durban. Earlier this year, Mahindra partnered with the Industrial Development Corporation to launch a feasibility study into building a full-scale manufacturing plant in the country.<\/p>\n

Tau said the government\u2019s role would be to support these companies in reaching full production capability, which would not only strengthen South Africa\u2019s industrial base but also position the country as a manufacturing hub for the continent.<\/p>\n

The minister added that discussions with other investors in China and India had also yielded interest in either partnering with existing car manufacturers to use excess capacity or building new factories in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Over the last 19 years, the percentage of CKD vehicles sold in South Africa has declined significantly from 56% to 33% in August, according to the CEO of Toyota South Africa Andrew Kirby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat this means is that we are flooding the market with imports,\u201d he said. \u201cSustaining CKD volumes is critical to preserving the domestic auto industry, local value creation and economic benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n

South Africa has been the dominant vehicle producer on the continent for the past 100 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are facing the risk of losing this position as the top dog on the continent (to Morocco) as early as this year,\u201d said Neale Hill, president of Ford Africa.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa has secured commitments from Chinese and Indian car companies to upgrade their semi-knocked-down (SKD) vehicle assembly operations to full-scale manufacturing, the South African trade minister said on Thursday, as industry leaders call for more domestic production. The government is in talks with multinational carmakers, who have South African factories \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":90963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-90965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nInternational Car Brands Support South Africa's Economy - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Africa has secured commitments from Chinese and Indian car companies to upgrade their semi-knocked-down (SKD) vehi ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"International Car Brands Support South Africa's Economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa has secured commitments from Chinese and Indian car companies to upgrade their semi-knocked-down (SKD) vehi ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T13:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-03T14:45:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1759490053.648235.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"International Car Brands Support South Africa’s Economy\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-03T13:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-03T14:45:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\"},\"wordCount\":451,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/10\/sm_1759490053.648235.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/international-car-brands-support-south-africas-economy\",\"name\":\"International Car Brands Support South Africa's Economy - 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