South Africa and its automotive industry are set to build resilience in 2025 and strengthen their trading position amid rising geopolitical uncertainties.
The domestic automotive industry’s top automotive regional trading partner in 2024 remained the European Union (EU), according to data in the latest edition of the Automotive Business Council’s (naamsa) Automotive Trade Manual 2025.
Vehicle and automotive component exports to the EU increased by R9.6 billion, or 6.5%, from R147.1 billion in 2023 to R156.7 billion in 2024, mainly owing to a rise in the value of vehicle exports to the region.
Automotive imports from the EU decreased by R900 million, or 0.7%, from R139.4 billion in 2023 to R138.5 billion in 2024, in line with lower original equipment component imports from the region.
The EU, Africa and US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) were the regions with a trade surplus in 2024. The largest deficit was recorded with the 48-country Asia region, including countries such as China, Japan, India and Thailand.
Germany, home to BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz, remained the South African automotive industry’s biggest single trading country partner (exports and imports of vehicles and components combined) in 2024. Despite decreasing from the R161.1 billion in 2023, total automotive trade between the two countries still reached a significant R138.6 billion in 2024.
The South African automotive industry’s trade relationship with five of its top trading countries reflected a surplus in 2024. There were no changes in South Africa’s top 10 automotive trading partners, but China improved its ranking year-on-year in 2024.
The global transition to EVs is reshaping South Africa’s automotive export landscape considering the decrease in exports for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle components over the past two years. Four OEMs are currently manufacturing hybrids and plug-in hybrid models (Toyota, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and BMW) in the domestic market, while several localisation opportunities for EV components have been identified or already exist and should contribute to offset the losses in ICE vehicle component exports over the medium term.
South Africa’s main automotive regional trade partners – 2024:
Source: naamsa, SARS
Chery South Africa says it is accelerating its growth in the local car-rental industry, with its national passenger vehicle market share reaching 6.2% in the past month. As interest in Chery’s range of vehicles continues to grow for consumers and fleet operators, the brand is seeing increasing interest from rental car companies nationwide.
Ulterio Motiv will exhibit a total of three vehicles at this year’s Hankook Land Cruiser Festival. Held annually, the Land Cruiser Festival caters not only to Toyota Land Cruiser enthusiasts, but also to various companies that supply products, upgrades and equipment for these vehicles.
Following the launch of the family-orientated Ford Territory last year, Ford SA is set to raise the bar for its compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) with a decent value-for-money proposition with the imminent release of the Territory Dark Edition.
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You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.
Henry Ford
Chery South Africa says it is accelerating its growth in the local car-rental industry, with its national passenger vehicle market share reaching 6.2% in the past month. As interest in Chery’s range of vehicles continues to grow for consumers and fleet operators, the brand is seeing increasing interest from rental car companies nationwide.
Ulterio Motiv will exhibit a total of three vehicles at this year’s Hankook Land Cruiser Festival. Held annually, the Land Cruiser Festival caters not only to Toyota Land Cruiser enthusiasts, but also to various companies that supply products, upgrades and equipment for these vehicles.
It is more good news about car sales for May with new-vehicle figures of 45 308 units, which reflected an increase of 8 169 units, or a substantial gain of 22.0%, from the 37 139 vehicles sold in May 2024, buoyed by relatively stable economic fundamentals earlier in the year.
