Did you know that South Africa has the highest numbers of automobile manufacturers and assembly plants in Africa, and that Ford Motor Company is the first automobile manufacturer in South Africa?

According to the Paris-based International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), Africa has more than a billion people with 17% of the world's population, but accounts for only 1% of cars sold worldwide, compared with China's 30%, Europe's 22% and North America's 17%. Also, according to consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Africa has on average 44 vehicles per 1,000 people, compared with the global average of 180 and 800 in the United States.

While Morocco is an emerging automotive manufacturing hub, South Africa has a history of car making. But multinational vehicle manufacturers are also setting up production plants in Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria and Rwanda, and locally owned African producers are starting out on this road less traveled.

South Africa currently has the most developed autos industry in Sub-Saharan Africa and remains the most attractive market. The country has a more diversified set of vehicle manufacturers, as well as a larger number of automotive component makers. Other factors such as the country's positive autos policies and a favourable competitive landscape have contributed to South Africa's growing autos industry.

However, in 2018, Morocco overtook South Africa as the biggest African exporter of passenger cars with exports in 2019 at $10 billion (€8.5 billion). The two countries mainly make cars for foreign markets, but also have relatively large domestic markets. VW, Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler and BMW are among the biggest car companies in Africa, making up over 90% of all passenger cars produced and a third of the cars sold in South Africa in 2019.

Here are some top automobile manufacturers in South Africa:

1️⃣ BIRKIN CARS
Birkin Cars, Ltd., formed in 1982, a South African-based car manufacturer. specializes in the S3 Roadster, a kit-car copy of the Lotus Super 7. Founded and owned by John Watson, a descendant of pioneering race car driver Tim Birkin, the S3 Roadster had since finished production. Through the early 1980s, Watson developed and built his own version of the Seven. The cars were unveiled to the public at the 1983 South African Grand Prix. The first shipment of completed S3 Roadsters were delivered directly to be sold at Lotus car dealerships. Since the 1980s, Birkin has expanded several times, but has kept its base of operations near Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.

2️⃣ BMW
BMW South Africa (Pty) Ltd. is an automobile manufacturer based in Rosslyn, South Africa and is part of the BMW group. As early as 1929, the first BMW motorcycle was imported to South Africa while the first cars of the brand in 1952 was a BMW 501. However, the assembly of BMW automobiles did not begin until 1968 by Praetor Monteerders in Rosslyn. The company also assembled Jeep models. In 1970, BMW bought shares in Praetor Monteerders to completely take it over in 1975, thus establishing BMW South Africa, and was also the first BMW plant outside of Germany.

3️⃣ FORD
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (Pty.) Ltd. with corporate headquarters in Pretoria is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company founded in 1923. A year later, the first Model Ts were assembled in Port Elizabeth, which made Ford the first automobile manufacturer in South Africa. The assembly plant in Silverton near Pretoria was opened in 1967. Together with Sigma Motor Corporation, SMC, which at that time belonged to Anglo American plc and produced Mazda models for the local market, Ford founded the South African Motor Corporation (Samcor) in 1985. In 1988, Ford withdrew from South Africa for economic and political reasons. With the renewed takeover of Samcor shares (45%) in 1994 Ford returned to South Africa.

4️⃣ ISUZU MOTORS
Isuzu Motors South Africa (Pty.) Ltd. has headquarters in Sandton (Johannesburg), South Africa, and was founded in November 2006 with a total investment of 80 million Rand as a joint venture between Isuzu of Japan and General Motors South Africa (Pvt.) Ltd., with both investors owning 50%. Isuzu Motors Ltd. of Japan increased its share of Isuzu Trucks South Africa to 70% by buying a 20% stake from GM South Africa in 2013. In 2017, General Motors South Africa was shut down, and Isuzu bought the remaining 30% of shares and merged it with the other assets of GM South Africa which Isuzu also bought, to form Isuzu Motors South Africa.

5️⃣ LAND SYSTEMS OMC
Land Systems OMC produces a range of armoured vehicles which have been successfully exported and are in service with, amongst others, the U.S., Canadian and South African militaries. It is a division of Denel SOC LTD, located in Benoni, Gauteng. The OMC segment of the name is the initialism under which the Olifant Manufacturing Co. of South Africa was most commonly known during its existence, established specifically for the task of creating the Olifant tank for the South African Army. OMC vehicles were developed for and successfully deployed in Angola and Namibia during the South African Border War. OMC's modern armoured personnel carriers are popular with most international peace keeping forces.

6️⃣ NISSAN
Nissan South Africa Pty Ltd is based in Rosslyn, South Africa, and a subsidiary of Nissan. In the 1960s, the brothers Thys and Andries Bekker imported the first Datsun 1000 pick-up to South Africa. The assembly of Datsun automobiles began at Motor Assemblies in 1965. After the assembly plant Motor Assemblies was taken over by Toyota end of 1964, it came to the founding of the Rosslyn Motor Assemblers Ltd. and to the construction of an assembly plant mainly for Datsun models in Rosslyn in 1966. The company was renamed Datsun Nissan South Africa Ltd. in 1973 and in 1983 the name was changed to Nissan SA. With the start of production of the Fiat Uno in 1988, a new parent company called Automakers SA Ltd. was founded, located in Sandton. In the year 2000, Nissan acquired a 37% stake in Automakers SA Ltd. and in 2001 changed to Nissan South Africa Pty. Ltd.

7️⃣ SAMIL TRUCKS
SAMIL Trucks (South African MILitary) are the standard logistical transport vehicles of the South African National Defence Force (and its predecessor the South African Defence Force). The civilian versions of these trucks are called SAMAG (South African MAGirus). Original production of these vehicles ended in 1998. In recent years, reconditioned and re-manufactured ex-military SAMIL trucks have also been made available to the private sector and vehicles have been sold to mining groups, exploration companies, contractors, farmers and many other organisations in fields such as tourism and forestry.

8️⃣ PARAMOUNT GROUP
Paramount Group, a Global Aerospace & Defence group of companies operating in the global defence, internal security and peacekeeping industries, was established in South Africa in 1994. It offers a range of military aircraft, armoured vehicles, maritime systems, equipment and training to governments. Since 2006, Paramount Group has been expanding its presence in the aerospace sector. In 2013, Paramount Group acquired South African aerospace firm Advanced Technologies and Engineering (ATE); during the following year, it announced the acquisition of the South African aerospace company Aerosud, its primary partner on the ARHLAC. Both firms have been integrated into the group.

9️⃣ PUMA
Puma Automóveis Ltda. is a Brazilian manufacturer of sports cars established in 1963 as Sociedade de Automóveis Lumimari, then became Puma Veículos e Motores the following year, and Puma Indústria de Veículos SA in 1974. The brand ceded production rights for a limited time to other companies. In 2013 the company was revived by a former industrial director of Puma Indústria de Veículos SA under the name Puma Automóveis Ltda, with headquarters in the countryside of São Paulo. New projects included the Puma P-052 prototype built specifically for motorsports, and the Puma GT Lumimari, named in honor of the company's original name.

🔟 TOYOTA
Toyota South Africa Motors (Proprietary) Limited (TSAM) is a subsidiary of Toyota, based in Prospecton, South Africa. In 1959, the first Toyota model, a Land Cruiser, was exported to South Africa, followed two years later by 10 units of the Stout. Production of Toyota models at Motor Assemblies began in 1962 or 1963. At the end of 1964, the sales organisation Toyota SA, which had been founded three years earlier, took over the majority of Motor Assemblies. In 1978, TSAM finally acquired 100% of the shares in Motor Assemblies. The Japanese Toyota Motor Corporation initially acquired 27.8% of the shares in TSAM in 1996, increased this share to 75% in 2002 and finally to 100% in 2009. In 2006, Toyota SA surpassed BMW South Africa as the country's largest automobile exporter.

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