{"id":841208,"date":"2025-10-30T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=841208"},"modified":"2025-10-30T10:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T08:01:07","slug":"major-chinese-carmaker-to-build-new-suv-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/841208\/major-chinese-carmaker-to-build-new-suv-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Major Chinese carmaker building new SUV in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BAIC says its new B30 SUV will be assembled locally at the company\u2019s Coega facility in Gqeberha.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chinese car brand said that the manufacturing marks a major step in the brand\u2019s long-term commitment to the South African market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The B30 will officially launch in November 2025, with local assembly starting shortly after launch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that the local manufacturing reinforces BAIC\u2019s strategy to build key models on South African soil and expand the plant\u2019s production facility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLocalising the B30 is about more than manufacturing – it\u2019s about investing in people, skills, and a sustainable automotive future for South Africa,\u201d said Ameena Hassan, Brand & PR Manager at BAIC South Africa. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Coega facility was built to support long-term growth, and the addition of the B30 underscores our confidence in this market and our intention to become a truly local brand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The R11 billion Coega plan, which was one of the largest industrial investments in South Africa\u2019s automotive sector, currently assembles the BAIC B40 Plus and X55 Plus models. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that the new B30 SUV is set to expand capacity and sustain hundreds of local jobs across production, logistics, and dealership networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The localisation of the B30 strengthens its supply-chain resilience and reduces import dependency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also open opportunities for future component sourcing through South African suppliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see South Africa as the gateway to the continent,\u201d Hassan added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cBuilding the B30 locally allows us to deliver vehicles faster, tailor them to local conditions, and invest directly in the communities that support us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BAIC’s push into its existing facility comes amid serious challenges facing its European and American competitors in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford Motors is scaling back in South Africa, with close to 500 workers across its plants in Pretoria and Gqeberha being retrenched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ford’s<\/a> decision follows a decline in European demand for its vehicles, especially the Ranger pickup, as well as changes in international tax policy that have disrupted its export strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BMW<\/a> is looking to move its locally manufactured vehicles to new markets, particularly Canada, due to the tariffs from the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chinese companies pushing into Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
BAIC’s Coega Facility<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

BAIC is not the only major Chinese automaker increasingly focusing on South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chery and Haval continue to make a mark in the passenger market due to their affordable prices compared to competitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, BYD, the world’s largest automaker of new energy vehicles, recently announced a massive infrastructure push in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with BusinessTech<\/a> earlier this month, BYD Vice President Stella Li said the company invests in 300 electric chargers in South Africa, including 1MW chargers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new stations will start off by being expanded in the group\u2019s dealerships, then expand to the nation\u2019s highways, and finally, to congested downtwon areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BYD is also looking to expand its solar coverage across South Africa on top of its massive charging expansion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Li admitted that BYD is a new player in South Africa, and needs more time before thinking of building a factory in South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BAIC will soon start building its new B30 SUV at its R11 billion factory in the Eastern Cape. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":841209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[12266,5365,18091,10479,2042,17645],"class_list":["post-841208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-baic","tag-bmw","tag-byd","tag-chery","tag-ford","tag-haval"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=841208"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841410,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/841208\/revisions\/841410"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=841208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=841208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=841208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}