| South Africa’s automotive industry has an established manufacturing base, but more of the value in vehicles sold and produced locally needs to reach South African component manufacturers. In a Financial Mail feature by David Furlonger, NAACAM CEO Renai Moothilal highlights the gap between the industry’s ambitions and its current position. Local content in vehicle manufacturing has declined from 43% to around 38%, against the South African Automotive Masterplan’s ambition of 60% by 2035. That gap has consequences for suppliers and their employees. Smaller orders make it harder for manufacturers to maintain production, invest in equipment, and retain specialised skills. As Moothilal explains: “Once a manufacturing operation closes, South Africa loses tooling, engineering capability, skills, supplier relationships and industrial know-how” The opportunity to deepen localisation extends beyond new vehicle production. South Africa imported R101.8 billion in aftermarket parts in 2025. Expanding local supply in this market could support investment and sustainable employment. Similarly, while most local component suppliers produce technology-agnostic products, support should be extended to manufacturers of legacy internal combustion engine (ICE) products like catalytic converters to diversify into adjacent technologies, including fuel-cell applications and green hydrogen-linked NEVs, particularly in commercial mining vehicle usage. NAACAM continues to call for policy reform that directly supports localisation and growth in production volumes. As Moothilal puts it: “South Africa already has an industrial foundation. The need now is to deepen it, while positioning the supplier base for the technologies that will define the next generation of mobility. Read more here: https://fm.co.za/features/2026-09-23-ride-or-die-how-sa-s-motor-industry-can-make-it-out-alive/ |
