AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR’S
AUTOMOTIVE EDITOR’S CHOICE 100 years of making cars in South Africa The South African automotive industry has developed into a sophisticated and varied sector which makes an important contribution to the country’s export basket. By John Young. The BMW headquarters in Gauteng have been revamped. The coastal city that was known as Port Elizabeth until it was recently renamed Gqeberha is a place where many things happened for the first time in South Africa. The first cricket Test match, the first diamond auction, the first telephone exchange; the first wireless transmission, the list that appears on The Casual Observer website is a long and impressive one. In automotive terms, the trend holds true. The first car to be imported into South Africa, before Mr Benz met Mr Daimler, was the Benz Velo model and it was in Port Elizabeth that Ford started making cars in 1924, followed two years later by General Motors. Glass manufacturers set up shop shortly afterwards, and South Africa’s automotive industry was underway. The first town to get a major automotive investment outside of Port Elizabeth was its near-neighbour, Uitenhage, now Kariega. That was when an assembly plant was erected in 1947. This became what is now the Volkswagen plant, and the first Beetles started rolling off the assembly line in 1951. The 520 963m² facility of the recently rebranded Volkswagen Group Africa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Aktiengessellschaft (VWAG) in Germany, is one of four plants worldwide that makes right-hand-drive Polos but the only one in the world that makes the Polo GTI. It has been a phenomenally successful product for export, with more than 1.5-million being shipped abroad. Over time, automotive manufacturing spread to another Eastern Cape coastal city (Mercedes in East London), KwaZulu- Natal (Toyota SA and Bell Equipment) and Gauteng (BMW, Nissan, Ford and a large number of automotive supply firms). Isuzu later established itself in Gqeberha, and more recently has completed its consolidation project, with truck and bakkie manufacturing now taking place at its new headquarters in nearby Struandale. Staying in the Gqeberha area, the Coega SEZ has also attracted Chinese investment in the form of FAW Trucks and the multinational company that makes and distributes 14 automotive brands, Stellantis. The Automotive Business Council reports that automotive is the largest manufacturing sector in the country’s economy, with 21.9% of value addition within the domestic manufacturing output being derived from vehicle and automotive component manufacturing in 2023. The broader automotive industry’s contribution to GDP totalled 5.3% (3.2% from manufacturing and 2.1% from retail). National government is invested in the automotive industry, believing that it is a strategic sector with the capacity to expand 38 | www.opportunityonline.co.za PHOTO: BMW
and increase employment. State support for the industry has helped it thrive, but manufacturers are expected to increase local content levels. The industry itself is looking to Africa for new markets and is urging national government to release policy guidelines on electric vehicles. The Automotive Business Council, previously known as NAAMSA, represents all original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), importers, exporters and distributors. The National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM) represents the components sector while the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC), a subsidiary of the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency (GGDA), focusses on training, enterprise development, incubation programmes, management of incentive programmes and facility management. Various support programmes for the industry have been successful, particularly in boosting exports. The Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP2) has been extended to 2035, 15 years beyond its original expiry date. Both the Coega Special Economic Zone (Coega SEZ) and the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ) in the Eastern Cape have areas dedicated to automotive and automotive components manufacture. The Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), a project of the Gauteng Province, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) and the City of Tshwane, has been functioning very successfully since 2019. Ford Motor Company of South Africa is the anchor tenant of TASEZ, although it still operates an engine plant in the town where it made its start in South Africa. Ford makes engines for the Ford Ranger pickup and Everest SUV at its Struandale plant in Gqeberha and it has committed to invest R600-million for modernising and growing its Eastern Cape operations, which employ about 850 people. A further R5.2-billion will enable hybrid-electric Ranger bakkies to be built in Gauteng. At the Old Tannery in Wellington an impressive collection of Ford Model Ts is on display. The oldest car on show is a 1912 Model T. PHOTO: Ford Media Center Automotive timeline, South Africa 1896 • Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co opens a Durban factory • The first car to be imported into South Africa, a Benz Velo, was offloaded in the city then known as Port Elizabeth 1923 Ford Motor Company founded 1924 Ford starts assembling cars in Port Elizabeth 1926 General Motors opens factory in Port Elizabeth 1935 Pilkington and Shatterprufe establish automotive glass plants in Port Elizabeth 1947 • General Tire & Rubber Co established, becomes Continental • Assembly plant built at Uitenhage (now Kariega) 1951 Volkswagen Beetle begins production at SAMAD facility in Uitenhage 1954 Bell Equipment established in KwaZulu-Natal 1958 Car Distributors and Assemblers (CDA) starts assembling Mercedes in East London 1962 • Toyota South Africa production launched in Durban • CDA starts producing Mercedes-Benz trucks 1964 First Isuzu trucks in SA 1966 • SAMAD renamed Volkswagen of South Africa Limited • United Car and Diesel Distributors (UCDD) buys out CDA 1968 • MAN opens in South Africa • BMW opens plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria (as Praetor Monteerders) 1973 Mercedes-Benz engine plant opens in East London, first outside Germany 1975 BMW South Africa completes takeover of company making vehicles at Rosslyn plant, becomes first BMW plant outside Germany 1978 Full production line at Isuzu Port Elizabeth plant 1984 • Daimler-Benz AG buys majority stake in UCCD and changes name to Mercedes- Benz of South Africa • Bell Equipment opens Richards Bay facility 1986 GM sells and rebrands as Delta 1988 Ford withdraws from South Africa. SAMCOR takes over production and distribution of Ford and Mazda vehicles 1996 VW Polo starts production in Kariega 1997 GM buys 49% of Delta 2000 Ford completes takeover of SAMCOR, creating Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa 2004 GM buys remaining 51% in Delta 2013 One-millionth Corolla manufactured by Toyota 2014 FAW Trucks SA begins assembling trucks at Coega SEZ, Gqeberha 2018 Mahindra starts assembling bakkies in Durban 2021 200 000th BMW X3 produced at Rosslyn plant 2024 • Stellantis invests in plant in Coega SEZ • Volkswagen Group Africa produces 1.5-millionth Polo GTI for export
