Global Automaker Stellantis To Build First Plant In South Africa

Multinational automotive manufacturing company, Stellantis, revealed that they signed an agreement with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa in order to set up their first manufacturing plant in the country.

Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa, Ebrahim Patel, said in a statement issued on the official website of Stellantis that he is pleased that the automotive company "is looking to South Africa to expand its manufacturing footprint."

"The company is a large global- automaker, with a range of well-known brands. South Africa is a great investment destination with significant car-making capacity," Patel continued. "We look forward to working closely with Stellantis to enable the company to set up a plant that will expand our manufacturing base and create local jobs."

Stellantis was founded in January 2021 and by the end of 2022, the company made a revenue of 179.6 billion EUR. The headquarters of the company is located in Hoofddorp, Netherlands.

Samir Cherfan, who serves as Stellantis Middle East and Africa Chief Operating Officer, stated in the statement that starting a manufacturing plant in South Africa is an important step to their Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan.

This step will help the company to become a major player in the Middle East and Africa region.

He added, "The manufacturing site in South Africa will be a new building block in our industrialization strategy that includes the plan to sell one million vehicles in the region by 2030 with 70% regional production autonomy and will bring us closer to our customers' needs in the region."

The manufacturing plant will be set up in a South African Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and the project is aimed to be completed by 2025.

CEO of the IDC, TP Nchocho noted that Stellantis' investment partnership with South Africa is an "amazing opportunity" for the country's development as the company's "track record in manufacturing plants around the world is impressive."

Nchocho continued, "We look forward to a joint venture with Stellantis to build a successful plant in South Africa. Another brick in the foundation towards our target of producing a million cars locally in SA."

Considering Stellantis' Dare Forward 2030 plan, the company aims to double its net revenues by 2030 compared to 2021. The company's CEO Carlos Tavares announced the plan in December 2022, revealing that they are aiming to reduce 50% of the carbon footprint by 2030.

South Africa is currently facing a major electricity crisis due to which the manufacturing production in the country has fallen heavily by 4.7%. President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa assigned a new electricity minister, Kgosientso Ramokgopa to fix this issue earlier this month.

In an interview earlier this week, Ramokgopa explained that load shedding won't end overnight but fixing it is the top priority at this moment. The new minister announced that he will soon come up with a plan to improve the load-shedding problem in the country.