'I think what has changed is that there is more of an African view of the automotive industry value chain than ever before.'South Africa will become a new vehicle importing country and will no longer be a new vehicle production hub in the longer term, a doyen of the country’s motor industry has predicted.
However, De Canha stressed the domestic new vehicle market is not going to die but will switch from local manufacturing to imports. BMW in June last year announcing it will invest R4.2 billion in South Africa to prepare its Rosslyn plant in Pretoria for the production from the second half of 2024 of the next generation BMW X3 as a plug-in hybrid vehicle; and
“The work of the AAAM has been instrumental in putting together an African view of the industry rather than just a South African view.“I am personally seeing more and more requests from automotive players wanting to understand the opportunities in the African market that can be stimulated by the African Continental Free Trade Agreement , green drives like the critical raw materials and new energy vehicles value chain,” he said.