Chinese Cars Stall Stellantis’s Big South African Factory
SOUTH AFRICA · BUSINESS
Key Facts
—On pause: Stellantis has paused its planned greenfield factory in Gqeberha and expects a decision on the project’s future “in the coming months.”
—The original plan: Announced in 2023 as the group’s first South African plant, it was to build the Peugeot Landtrek pickup, with completion once due in 2025.
—Chinese surge: Chinese vehicle sales in South Africa rose about 75 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, taking more than 19 percent of the market, per NAAMSA.
—New entrants: Four more Chinese brands entered the market in that quarter alone, joining GWM, BYD, Geely, GAC, BAIC and MG.
—Sourcing shift: Stellantis says locally and Asian-sourced vehicles could reach about 90 percent of what it sells in South Africa by 2030, up from just over a quarter.
—Continental stakes: Africa’s car map is being redrawn, with Morocco rising as an export hub while South Africa’s assembly model comes under pressure.
Stellantis South Africa has put its planned Gqeberha car factory on pause and will decide its fate within months. A surge of low-cost Chinese brands is rewriting the economics of building vehicles in Africa’s most industrialised nation.
A factory plan overtaken by the market
When Stellantis announced the project in 2023, it looked straightforward. A greenfield plant in Gqeberha, the coastal city once known as Port Elizabeth, would build the Peugeot Landtrek pickup for South Africa and for export.
It was to be the group’s first factory in the country, with completion targeted for 2025. Instead, the site is on hold while the plan is redrawn to support several models rather than one.
“We certainly have not stopped that process. We put it on pause,” South Africa managing director Mike Whitfield told reporters at the end of June.
The reworking reflects how quickly the assumptions behind the plant have aged. Export economics have shifted, and so has what South African buyers want, and can afford.
China’s carmakers change the equation
The clearest force is China. Industry body NAAMSA’s first-quarter report shows Chinese vehicle sales up about 75 percent year on year, giving Chinese makers more than 19 percent of the new-vehicle market.
Nearly one in five new vehicles sold in the country now comes from a Chinese brand. Four more Chinese marques arrived in the first quarter alone, joining names such as GWM, BYD, Geely, GAC, BAIC and MG.
Their weapons are price and product: cheap SUVs, hybrids and electric models landing faster than local lines can retool. For volume brands like those in the Stellantis stable, that squeezes the very segment a new pickup plant was meant to serve.
The pressure is sharpest at the affordable end of the market, where first-time buyers enter. That is precisely where a volume pickup, and brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and Fiat, must live.
Stellantis South Africa’s next move
Whitfield says a decision on the plant will come “in the coming months,” as reported by Engineering News. Asked whether the site could be shared with a Chinese partner, he said attention was “very much focused on ourselves.”
The group is not retreating from the market, but it is changing how it supplies it. Locally and Asian-sourced vehicles, including from China, could account for about 90 percent of what Stellantis sells there by 2030, up from just over a quarter today.
That is a quiet inversion of the old model, in which South African plants built for the world. Increasingly, the world builds for South Africa.
What it means for African carmaking
South Africa’s auto industry is the backbone of its manufacturing sector, a major employer and exporter that governments have defended with incentives for decades. A paused Stellantis plant is a warning that those defences are straining against Chinese scale.
The country assembles vehicles for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford and Isuzu, and cars rank among its largest manufactured exports. What happens to new investment therefore ripples far beyond one brand.
The contrast with North Africa is stark. Morocco has built a fast-growing car and battery export hub on European supply chains.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s higher costs, logistics troubles and flood of imports push global carmakers to rethink assembly plans. Pretoria is reviewing its incentive regime, but imports keep arriving faster than policy can move.
Every month of delay makes a greenfield plant harder to justify. How Stellantis decides on Gqeberha will therefore echo beyond one factory.
It is a test of whether vehicle manufacturing in Africa’s industrial heartland can still compete. The market, after all, is one China is rapidly making its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did Stellantis pause its South African plant?
Stellantis paused the Gqeberha factory to rework it for several models instead of one pickup, as low-cost Chinese imports reshape South African demand and export economics. A decision is expected within months.
How big are Chinese car brands in South Africa now?
NAAMSA data show Chinese vehicle sales rose about 75 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, taking more than 19 percent of the market, with four more Chinese brands arriving in that quarter alone.
What was the Gqeberha plant supposed to build?
Announced in 2023 as Stellantis’s first South African factory, the greenfield plant near the Coega zone was originally meant to produce the Peugeot Landtrek pickup, with completion once targeted for 2025.
Will Stellantis partner with a Chinese carmaker in South Africa?
Managing director Mike Whitfield said attention is “very much focused on ourselves,” though Stellantis plans to source far more of what it sells locally from Asia, including China, by 2030.
Connected Coverage
For the wider industrial contest, see our reports on how Morocco is building Africa’s car and battery powerhouse and how Chinese EV makers are racing into emerging markets, both threads in our pillar on Africa: The New Scramble.
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