This is the result of restrictions on exports to the United States and Europe send the Chinese on a global quest for new markets, according to a news report by Reuters.

Though home to over a billion people, low incomes and high import duties have long hampered manufacturers' efforts to sell more cars in Africa. Unreliable electricity supply and a lack of charging infrastructure have meanwhile held back electric vehicle (EV) uptake.

But companies including BYD, Chery Auto and Great Wall Motor (GWM) are aiming to leverage low prices to advance where others have struggled and use expansion in South Africa as a stepping stone in a continent-wide strategy.

"We treat South Africa as a very important market for our global expansion," says Tony Liu, the CEO of Chery South Africa, calling Africa's most developed auto market a "gateway to the African continent," according to Reuters.

Nearly half of the 14 Chinese automotive brands currently active in South Africa launched only last year. More, including Dongfeng, Leapmotor, Dayun and Changan and iCar, are set to enter the market soon.

And as new players move in, more established companies are exploring local production, allowing them to benefit from a government incentive programme offering rebates for domestically manufactured vehicles.

Chery, the number two Chinese auto company in South Africa is considering partnerships or building its own factory to produce cars for the South African market and for export to the rest of the continent, and potentially Europe.

Omoda and Jaecoo are also conducting feasibility studies for local assembly, its South Africa General Manager Hans Greyling told Reuters.

Until now, it had not made financial sense for GWM, the largest Chinese automaker in South Africa by sales, to localise component production, its Chief Operating Officer Conrad Groenewald told Reuters, as Chinese imports had been cheaper.

Auto executives interviewed by Reuters view plug-in hybrids as critical to their Africa strategy.

"Battery electric vehicles have not really taken off in South Africa," Omoda & Jaecoo's Hans Greyling says. "We've gone the route of looking more towards traditional hybrids or plug-in hybrids."

South African sales of new energy vehicles (including hybrids along with EVs) more than doubled from 2023 to last year, accounting for a 3% share of total new vehicle sales.

"Based on our experience in China, once the market share of new energy vehicles reaches almost 10%, then the demand will start to explode," Chery's Tony Liu says.

But they are counting on price and advanced technology to set them apart from Africa's traditional market leaders, focusing on offering plug-in hybrids and EVs with a starting price under R400 000.

Omoda and Jaecoo — which launched in Africa in 2023 and operates 52 dealerships in South Africa, Namibia, Eswatini and Botswana — hopes to triple sales in the next 18 months and enter new markets like Zambia and Tanzania, it is reported.

BYD plans to expand its dealership network in East, Southern and West Africa, including a first-time entry into Tanzania.

Steve Chang, BYD Auto South Africa's General Manager, says he is not daunted by the slow adoption of EVs and Africa's internal combustion engine-dominated vehicle market.

"I think South Africa and the rest of Africa have a very big opportunity to what I call leapfrog from ICE into renewable energy (cars)," he says. "Africa is a very big market."