EV Tax Break May Lure China to $27 Billion South Africa Industry.
Thoughts By Tshepo Magagane
I wrote this a year back about SA’s Northern Cape: remember the existing car industry in Pretoria and Gqeberha – I criticise SA a lot but they get things such as localisation, industrialisation right (think Mintek, CSIR, IDC). NB: 2/3 of light vehicle production are exported from the country (EU top destination).
And China is already winning in auto, drive around the global South and see how many Havals are there on the road – talking ICE here – they can deliver 80% of a German spec at 60% of the price – people are buying them…phew! See Haval advert – a new grad can afford that in SA, and that is not a basic car – 80% of a 3series/c-class…and Chinese cars are not cheap nor are they “affordable”; they are appropriately priced – an X3 used to cost ZAR700k in 2017 and now it goes for ZAR1.4m (without extras)…and yet you can still find a Haval with about the performance of an M-Power or AMG at ZAR700k…doesnt end there, Havals come with 7-yr warranties/services plans & 1m Km engine warranties while you see shiny brand new Audis smoking on the highway.
The Chinese are (or have) won this battle…they are even the biggest shareholder in Mercedes…
[ On January 2, 2024 I shared with the shared with Public:
If you get South Africa to operate just at the level of SARS, SARB – that level of professionalism, man, you can turn the country into a Singapore…Europeans, Americans, and Asians know that they don’t have an option but to approach Africa via SA as the Gateway – now imagine if the country gets the basics right eg Ports of Entry, Ports, Rails, and Road – the potential of the country is so vast!
Have been driving through the NCape (sparsely populated province in the country – eg 200km bn towns – provinces you normally visit like Gauteng, WCape, NWest are about 60km) eg a small town Kenhart (120km from Upington); has Lithium resources (and others) and huge solar potential (which is trapped given the huge cost of evacuating it) – but I immediately go “ unlock that wider ecosystem; even setting up the precursor industry)!]
Bloomberg:
EV Tax Break May Lure China to $27 Billion South Africa Industry.
South Africa is the world’s biggest producer of manganese, mines nickel and has deposits of rare earths — all key components in the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles. It’s also the largest miner of platinum, used in the fuel cells that power hydrogen-fueled vehicles.
