The proud heritage of SA's motor industry and its evolution into a major exporter

When it comes to South African exports, one usually thinks of fine wines as well as shiny minerals such as gold and diamonds. But what many don’t realise is that South Africa is a major exporter of vehicles.

It wasn’t always this way. During the dark days of apartheid, South Africa’s motor manufacturing industry adopted a protectionist mindset, and the industry focused on producing a large number of models at relatively low volumes.

Our country has been producing cars since the 1920s, with Ford having opened up its Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha) factory in 1924, while General Motors followed suit in 1926.

Many came and departed, and by the time our market opened up to the rest of the world at the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa had seven manufacturers.

ALSO READ: From humble beginnings to major exporter: how SA's car manufacturing sector evolved over 100 years

The winds of change were sweeping through the industry, and the introduction of the Motor Industry Development Programme (MIDP) in 1995 brought lower import tariffs as well as strong financial incentives for exporting products.

In order to survive, manufacturers had to change their game plans, and this saw a scramble to secure export contracts. It certainly helped that the country now had access to major international markets through South Africa’s Free Trade Agreement with the European Union and the USA’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). The latter has unfortunately been cancelled out by Donald Trump’s automotive tariffs introduced this year.

Nonetheless, today South Africa is a major exporter of automotive products, and the industry saw a record volume of 396,000 exports in 2023. While this number dipped to 308,380 in 2024, export sales year-to-date are up by 3% in 2025.

South Africa’s biggest export hero at present is the Volkswagen Polo hatchback. A total of 54,111 Polos were exported in the first half of 2025, putting it ahead of the Mercedes C-Class (34,601), Ford Ranger (34,589), Toyota Hilux (32,451), and BMW X3 (31,769).

After Volkswagen’s Spanish factory ceased Polo production in 2024, South Africa’s Kariega plant became the main global production hub for this hatchback.

Fittingly, VWSA was the first local manufacturer to export cars in significant numbers, with a contract to export 12,500 left-hand drive Jetta 2s kicking things off in 1990. To date, the local division has exported over 1.5 million vehicles. 

In recent years, Ford, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have also invested significant amounts to make South Africa an export hub for various products.

Ford, for instance, put down R15.8 billion to manufacture the latest Ranger at its Silverton facility near Pretoria, while BMW has invested R4.2 billion in its nearby Rosslyn factory to produce the recently launched X3, which now also includes local production of a plug-in-hybrid.

While South Africa’s vehicle manufacturing industry and its many achievements should be celebrated this Heritage Day, it currently faces numerous challenges.

Although the aforementioned tariffs mainly affect Mercedes, our exporters also face the knock-on effect of increasing global competition in other export markets. Manufacturers have also faced electricity shortages as well as logistical challenges at the harbours, while Europe’s plan to go electric-only from 2035 also poses an existential threat to our ICE-focused industry.

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