Chinese automakers plan South Africa plants

Shanghai, July 10 (Gasgoo.com) A group of Chinese homegrown automakers are considering the possibility of setting up manufacturing plants in South Africa, a Beijing-based newspaper reports today.

Great Wall Motor (GWM) plans to build a plant in South Africa and is still making detailed investigation in the local market, an unnamed company source said. GWM is reported to begin sales in March 2007 in South Africa, which is now a major profit driver for the company.

Chery Automobile Co just launched a number of models onto the South Africa market in May, including the Chery QQ3, the Chery J5 medium-sized sedan and the Tiggo compact SUV, and the estimated sales volume by the end of 2008 in the market is 5,000 units. The report said the Chinese automaker is awaiting market response to decide whether to set up a plant in South Africa .

Another Chinese automaker Geely Auto has similar plans in store for the market. South Africa currently has a population of 47 million people, but its car ownership has already hit 8 million units.