{"id":30505,"date":"2026-04-01T09:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&p=30505"},"modified":"2026-04-01T09:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T07:08:16","slug":"chinas-chery-aims-for-2027-start-at-newly-acquired-sa-plant","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/chinas-chery-aims-for-2027-start-at-newly-acquired-sa-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"China’s Chery aims for 2027 start at newly acquired SA plant \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chery Automobile aims \u200cto begin production by the end of 2027 at the South African (SA) plant it is acquiring from Nissan, where it also plans to make electrified vehicles, a senior executive at the Chinese automaker told Reuters.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Four years on from re-entering SA\u2019s automotive market, Chery has become a consistent top 10 player in local sales, with an average \u2060of 50 000 units sold annually, along with a rapidly expanding network of 150 dealers nationwide.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“We will try to modify the plant at full speed and we hope that by probably the end of 2027 we’re going to start the start of production,” Chery International Executive Vice President Charlie Zhang said on the sidelines of a conference.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Rosslyn manufacturing plant will be re-commissioned and retrofitted over the next 12 to 18 months, Zhang said, without disclosing the acquisition cost or planned investment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chery is considering making “new energy” vehicles at the plant alongside internal combustion \u200cengine models, \u2060he said, in anticipation of exporting to markets across Africa and Europe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Electrified vehicles, including hybrid vehicles, plug-in hybrid, and battery vehicles could be the main products we want to produce here,” Zhang said on Tuesday, noting the plant will have the capability and capacity to manufacture multiple models.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chery also plans \u2060to build a local supplier base.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chinese automakers seeking global growth are building more car plants overseas to protect themselves as foreign regulators consider imposing measures against imports of Chinese vehicles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Zhang said Chery\u2019s investment reflects \u2060confidence in SA and stems from the “unwavering support” of the company’s local customers and dealers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Local production will strengthen Chery’s market position by offering greater flexibility, shorter lead times and \u2060improved competitiveness, the company said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Chery’s investment in SA is not only an important step in the company’s globalization development, but also our long-term commitment to the economic and industrial development of SA,” Zhang said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–Reuters–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":30506,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-30505","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Chery Automobile aims \u200cto begin production by the end of 2027 at the SA plant","published_date":"2026-04-01 08:44:05","news_description":"Chery Automobile aims \u200cto begin production by the end of 2027 at the SA plant","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30507,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/30505\/revisions\/30507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=30505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}