The Randburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) supports resolutions taken at the annual South African Automotive week that took place in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape from 1 to 3 October 2025. The Chamber calls for decisive leadership amid mass retrenchment.
The SA Auto week brought together government, industry leaders and investors under one roof to engage on challenges and available opportunities in the sector.
The Chamber believes that pressing challenges such as import controls, failing infrastructure and government indecision threaten the sustainability of the sector. We have noted remarks made by Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau at the event, where he cited ongoing talks to ensure foreign brands use local labour more effectively.
The challenge surrounding the importation of foreign tyres should be addressed as some believe it is the leading cause of the closure of some of the leading tyre manufacturers. What is government doing to ban such imports that continue to undermine skills development? In 2018, Chinese and Indian imports accounted for 1% of the South African automotive sector. In 2025 that figure has climbed to 26%. This is the time for government to act decisively and promote local manufacturing and drive meaningful localisation.
We also commend courageous speakers who called on government to implement regulations that would see foreign brands forced to manufacture locally and employ South Africans.
In 2024, the industry contributed more than 5.2% to SA’s GDP and accounted for 22.6% of the country’s total manufacturing output.
Vehicle and component exports equated to R268.8 billion – 15% of SA’s total exports to 155 global markets. (StatsSA)
The industry has so far recorded 12 company closures over the past two years, affecting the livelihoods of 4000 individuals. Ford is the latest company, confirming the retrenchment of nearly 500 workers across its plants in Pretoria and Gqeberha. This indicates an industry in distress.
We further noted with caution promises made by DTIC minister Parks Tau regarding ongoing discussions to convert existing SKD manufacturing (semi-knocked down) into CKD manufacturing (completely knocked down).
This means that where vehicles currently arrive in SA partially assembled and need only to be bolted together to form a finished product, they will arrive completely unassembled so that local labour can put them together from scratch and draw on SA’s local production capabilities.
RCCI calls for tangible solutions to save and create more job opportunities with localisation and reskilling of the current labour force being central. We further call upon the Automotive Industry to put pressure on government to ensure that all the resolutions taken are implemented.
Sources:
https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P63432/P63432June2024.pdf