This Week In The News

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NEWS IN SHORT

  • Mid-month data published by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) shows that due to favourable market conditions, petrol prices could be slashed by a minimum of 61c per liter on the first Wednesday of next month, and diesel prices by an even more welcome 74c per liter.

  • Enviro Automotive, importer and distributor of several Chinese brands, has confirmed that it will unveil a range of budget-friendly electric cars for South Africa in the last quarter of 2024 that will be priced below R400,000.

  • The United Nations (UN) in partnership with JC Decaux has launched the UN Global Campaign for Road Safety in South Africa in an effort to raise public awareness of life-saving initiatives on the road. 

    The ultimate goal of the campaign is to decrease the number of casualties caused by road accidents around the world. Human Factors contribute 88% to South African road fatalities.
  • OpenAI unveils ChatGPT-4o.-: ChatGPT-4o is capable of realistic voice conversations and can interact with text and images.
  • The 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 Formula 1 (F1) car owned and raced by Jody Scheckter sold for a staggering R151.4 million at an RM Sotheby’s auction this past weekend, blowing past its pre-sale estimates of R107.4-132.9 million.
  • The new Gauteng plates were supposed to launch in April but have missed their deadline with no word from government on the reason for the delay.
  • US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced 100% tariffs on the importation of Chinese-made electric vehicles into the US. At the same time, Europe is conducting an anti-subsidy investigation into EV imports from China, with similar measures to the US being considered.
  • South Africa is still attracting investment for the production of traditional ICE vehicles.

    This week, Peugeot parent company Stellantis announced that it is starting construction of a R3-billion bakkie assembly plant in the Eastern Cape.
    In a similar vein, VW announced a R4-billion investment to expand its Kariega plant, also in the Eastern Cape, in preparation for the production of new ICE-based SUV models.
  • National Health Insurance is now law in South Africa. Delivering an address ahead of the signing, health minister Joe Phaahla said that the NHI won’t be a once-off event and that the system will roll out over time, with all regulations and implementation processes following the proper processes, including consultation and public comment provisions.
  • All new Audi vehicles boast a five-year/100,000km Audi Freeway Plan service and maintenance plan as standard.

 

Chinese cars in South Africa: threat or opportunity?

South Africa’s automotive sector is an important contributor to the economy, representing some 20% of the country’s total manufacturing output and contributing 5.3% to GDP in 2023.

Regulators are concerned that cheap, subsidized Chinese EVs will flood domestic markets, undercutting local manufacturers and destroying homegrown motoring industries in the process, costing jobs and crimpling economic growth.

South Africa has a master plan that aims to achieve 1% of global production by 2035, but the world is shifting towards electric vehicles and South Africa’s policy is lagging behind.

We have seen what happened to Australia, they were in the same position as South Africa, attracting global brands to manufacture on their shores, but because they lacked proactive policy reforms from government, the automotive manufacturing industry in Australia evaporated.

South Africa exports three in five vehicles made in the country to Europe. The EU, on the other hand, plans to ban the sale of new ICE vehicles in the region by 2035 to support its transition to EVs.

Working in South Africa’s favor is the availability, at least regionally, of some of the minerals that are key to the production of EVs such as nickel, lithium and cobalt, meaning local manufacturers could, in theory, acquire these inputs more cheaply and quickly.

“African countries are mining the minerals, putting them onto a ship and taking them to another country for processing, going to Europe for assembly and then we import it again. “

“If we become proactive in South Africa, we can create a great manufacturing framework that will attract not only the Chinese but all OEMs (vehicle manufacturers) to set up plants here,” said Hiten Parmar executive director of the The Electric Mission, a non-profit that champions the decarbonization of South Africa’s automotive and energy systems.

“If South Africa does not create that carrot, to say that we are fully committed to EV manufacturing and outline what the direct incentives for not only automotive manufacturing but also automotive component manufacturing, we are going to struggle going forward,” he said.

That been said South Africa is still attracting investment for the production of traditional ICE vehicles.
This week, Peugeot parent company Stellantis announced that it is starting construction of a R3-billion bakkie assembly plant in the Eastern Cape. In a similar vein, VW announced a R4-billion investment to expand its Kariega plant, also in the Eastern Cape, in preparation for the production of new ICE-based SUV models.

https://techcentral.co.za/chinese-cars-in-south-africa-threat/244766/

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Did You Know

  • South Africa is the world’s 14th biggest producer of carbon emissions from energy production.

  • There are currently 632 brigadiers and 146 major generals on the SAPS’ payroll. Together, these officers account for R1 billion a year in salaries, with the annual salary averaging R1.49 million for major generals and R1.24 million for brigadiers.

  • Fabricio Bloisi will replace Bob van Dijk as group CEO of Naspers and its European-listed spinoff, Prosus, the two companies said on Friday.
  • You can’t fold a piece of A4 paper more than eight times.

  • A horse normally has more than one horsepower. A study in 1993 showed that the maximum power a horse can produce is 18,000W, around 24 horsepower.