China's Chery acquires SA plant, expects first cars off assembly line in 2027

Chery has confirmed the acquisition of a South African plant it has bought from Nissan.

The Chinese carmaker said the facility in Rosslyn, Tshwane, will be recommissioned and retrofitted over the next 12 to 18 months.

The first locally produced Chery-branded vehicles are expected to roll off the assembly line by the middle of 2027.

Since re-entering the South African market around four years ago, Chery has become a consistent top 10 player in local sales and is rapidly expanding its dealer network.

This investment is good news for the economy, and particularly for the country's components sector.

Stephen Grootes talks to Renai Moothilal, CEO of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (NAACAM).

"As the components constituency, we welcome the investment. We look forward to seeing how our own component producers can slip into that value chain, partner with the Chery technologies and their own Tier 1 supplier base."

Grootes asks about the strength of the business case for a local manufacturing plant, considering the huge manufacturing capability of China, and the influx of a host of cheaper Chinese cars in South Africa.

Moothilal points to long-term policy reasons in view of Chery's growing market presence.

"The reality is that they've very quickly established a very sizeable domestic market here. If we just look at this quarter alone, they sold more than 16,000 vehicles across their various brands within the Chery Group. And with a strong domestic market the case for investment becomes quite attractive."

"Their marketing teams are already doing a really good job and they, along with other emerging brands, have come in with technology and competitiveness factors that have seen South African consumers take to them. We'd obviously love to see Chery come in and do deep levels of production, making use of the component base that Nissan has built up over time and other component manufacturers - I think it will be a win-win."

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview with the NAACAM chief