President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, on Tuesday jointly unveiled, via live video link, the first BAIC vehicle to be assembled in Africa.
The vehicle, an X25 crossover that went on sale in fully imported form in SA in 2017, was officially launched at BAIC SA’s new production facility in the Coega Development Corporation special economic zone in Port Elizabeth.
The event marked completion of the first phase of the plant, which is mainly focused on the vehicle assembly line, with other elements such as a paint shop and press shop to be constructed at a later stage.
The unveiling took place during the Brics summit, which is being hosted by SA. BAIC already assembles minibus taxis at a facility owned jointly by its subsidiary BAW and the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) in Springs, Gauteng.
The new facility at Coega is an R11bn joint venture between BAIC International and the IDC to assemble vehicles for the South African market as well as markets across Africa, with BAIC owning a 65% stake.
Construction of the facility was halted when the IDC and other stakeholders became aware that BAIC was planning to import labour and materials for the new plant.
In 2017 there were further delays when many local suppliers questioned tender documents and threatened to take action against the company.
“This [milestone] confirms the value of the relationship between our countries and the practical, solid co-operation that we enjoy at an investment level,” said Ramaphosa, who went on to congratulate all involved.
In his comments, and with reference to the agreements signed in 2015, Xi said the event demonstrated that China had kept its word.
The Chinese president said China was now the largest vehicle manufacturing country in the world, adding that Africa and Asia had huge potential for growth and China would play a role in driving rapid growth on the African continent.
BAIC had originally expected the plant to be completed early in 2018 but due to the delays it will only be finished towards the end of the year. This has hampered production plans.
The company now plans to use semi-knocked-down production, using mostly imported components, to reach its first manufacturing goal of 50,000 units per annum by 2022. It plans to produce more than 100,000 units each year when the plant is at full capacity.
The company said more than 1,000 jobs had already been created, but it expected this to rise significantly as the various phases of the plant construction and operations progress.
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