{"id":653342,"date":"2026-06-12T12:03:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=653342"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:05:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:05:57","slug":"volkswagen-making-a-huge-mistake-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/653342-volkswagen-making-a-huge-mistake-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Volkswagen making a huge mistake in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Automotive and transport industry analysts are sceptical about Volkswagen South Africa’s plan to pivot its vehicle exports to other African markets as demand for its cars declines in Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transition towards new energy vehicles (NEVs) is an existential threat to the continued existence of the German automotive giant’s Kariega factory in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 70% of the cars the factory makes are exported to 38 markets, the biggest being the European Union and the United Kingdom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These exports are at great risk due to the EU and UK requiring a certain threshold of vehicles sold in their countries to be fully-electric or hybrid over the next decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen is not the only local manufacturer facing this challenge. BMW, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota also export a large proportion of their vehicles overseas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Electric Mission’s Hiten Parmar pointed out that Europe accounted for R182.8 billion, or 62.8%, of South Africa’s total automotive export value of R291 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, all four of the other carmakers are already producing traditional or plug-in hybrids, some of which have proven immensely popular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen lacks NEV manufacturing capacity in South Africa and has not launched any hybrids or fully electric cars in the local market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of transitioning its assembly line to make NEVs, Volkswagen intends to shift its exports of fuel-powered cars to the rest of the continent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volkswagen Group Africa CEO Martina Biene has described Africa as the “last frontier” for automotive growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company’s basic argument is that African markets have been slower to adopt electric vehicles (EVs) than Europe, suggesting they would continue to have significant demand for petrol and diesel models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there are several big holes in Volkswagen’s plan. Firstly, EV prices are expected to reach parity with petrol-powered models by 2028. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pricing is one of the primary reasons these vehicles have remained out of reach of most African consumers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

African consumers are big on used cars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
VW Polos getting prepared for export at the harbour in Gqeberha. Photographer: MD_Photography \/ Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In used-car markets in developed countries like the UK, many EV models are already cheaper than comparable petrol cars with similar capabilities, mileage, and age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, there will be many more used EVs in developed markets over the next few years, including some which may be destined for Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While South Africa does not allow the import of used cars from foreign markets for local sale, 49 other African countries do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permitting the sale of these vehicles has been critical in enabling Africans to get around, which has also driven economic growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new African Continental Free Trade Agreement aims to make the cross-border movement of cars made on the continent easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the agreement will also benefit another automotive manufacturing powerhouse, Morocco, which has surpassed South Africa as the continent’s largest vehicle producer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parmar believes that new market developments in Africa will not be achieved in the short term, at least not to cover the window until 2030 or 2035 for an ambitious recovery of current export markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Africa’s automotive market is highly reliant on used vehicle imports, where affordability is a key driver,” he said. “Access to new vehicles is far out of reach for the majority of Africans.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuel prices <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A South African transport sector consultant who preferred to remain anonymous also highlighted the used car issue to MyBroadband, labelling Volkswagen’s strategy as “short-sighted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, they said African countries showed a strong desire to move away from dependence on imported fossil fuel, and towards leveraging locally generated renewable energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parmar said the US-Israel war on Iran, which has led to the disruption of oil and petroleum flows through the Strait of Hormuz, has made the issue of overreliance on fuel imports more evident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The situation has led to a surge in EV sales in many countries around the world, including South Africa, which had two consecutive months of record EV sales in April and May 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parmar also highlighted that leadership across Africa had affirmed a collective commitment to capitalise on the e-mobility transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Automakers under-estimate the political will of African leaders to transition to e-mobility,” Parmar stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“At the recent African Union’s Transport and Energy meetings, ministers from across the continent formally adopted the Johannesburg Declaration,” Parmar said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He pointed out that Ethiopia had already banned fuel-powered vehicle imports and that Morocco’s car production growth came on the back of investments in EV manufacturing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A missed opportunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Parmar believes that Volkswagen South Africa missed an opportunity to become the manufacturer of the brand’s planned EV for the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As the primary global manufacturer of Polo to date, the ID Polo would have been a great opportunity for a transition of local manufacturing to BEV, as ‘the people’s car’,” Parmar said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With all the celebrations of VW South Africa, the ID Polo would have been a flagship not only for VW SA, but for VW Group Africa.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ID Polo premiered in late April 2026 and started production at the SEAT and Cupra Martorell plant and Volkswagen Navarra plant in Spain this month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be priced from around \u20ac25,000 (R475,900) in Europe. For reference, the petrol-powered model built in South Africa starts from \u20ac23,000 (R437,988).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering the additional features and much lower running costs of the electric model, the petrol version is unlikely to appeal to European and UK buyers for much longer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Volkswagen is the only vehicle manufacturer in South Africa that has not started pivoting to new energy vehicle manufacturing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":653530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[78574,104179,44384,31960,100976,67290,13083,12909,105852,87785,105850,82585,98107,105851,34531,53005,93899,105849,77902,63289],"class_list":["post-653342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-car-manufacturers","tag-e-mobility","tag-eastern-cape","tag-electric-cars","tag-electric-mission","tag-electric-vehicles-evs","tag-europe","tag-european-union","tag-hiten-parmar","tag-hybrids","tag-kariega","tag-martina-biene","tag-plug-in-hybrid-electric-vehicles-phevs","tag-south-african-vehicle-manufacturing","tag-united-kingdom","tag-vehicle-manufacturers","tag-volkswagen-group-africa","tag-volkswagen-id-polo","tag-volkswagen-polo","tag-volkswagen-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653342"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653342"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653682,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653342\/revisions\/653682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}