Chinese-made cars are seen before being loaded onto a ship at the port in Lianyungang, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province on June 20, 2025. (Photo by AFP) / China OUT / CHINA OUT / CHINA OUT
The Brics chickens are already starting to come home to roost as South African carmakers and importers feel the heat from fierce competition from the flood of Chinese-made cars, SUVs and bakkies entering our market.
At least one retailer, Motus, is retrenching at least 86 employees, a figure cut down from more than 200 initially announced by the group.
A further 579 have been hit by changes to their remuneration and benefits.
The group has linked the job cuts to market pressures from Chinese car brands and also cited efforts to restructure the business.
SA’s auto industry has seen this movie before with oriental “invasions”. First it was when Toyota and Nissan (then called Datsun) arrived here.
Local industry and buyers poured scorn on the “Jap crap”, preferring their regular diet of US and British Fords and Chevs.
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It didn’t take long for the Japanese to convince everyone of the quality and reliability of their cars.
The same happened more recently, when Hyundai and Kia products were initially dismissed. Chinese products imported in the early post-apartheid era were, frankly, rubbish.
But the same cannot be said of the latest cars, which are technologically advanced, well-made and priced to make anyone look twice.
It is true that while it may be difficult to find overt evidence of government subsidies to the Chinese companies, the reality is that Beijing’s aggressive industrialisation and export drives from the ’90s were all founded on government financial support for at least long enough for the brands to become established.
Will local makers and the government have a discussion about levying import tariffs on our friends from the Brics alliance? That is doubtful.
But the Chinese tsunami is a reality and the government needs to decide how to handle it in the best interests of job creation and job retention.
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