Chinese vehicles are gradually finding a vast and fertile new “habitat” in overseas markets.
The 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit was held in Beijing from September 4 to 6.
As early as September 3, the African delegation conducted a series of visits to China’s automobile industry.
Among them, on September 3, the South African media delegation visited Beijing Automobile, and the Egyptian Prime Minister met with Great Wall Motor Chairman Wei Jianjun.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuli held talks with GAC GROUP General Manager Feng Xingya and his entourage in Beijing on September 6.
Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group, spoke as one of the representatives of Chinese entrepreneurs.
Lei Jun expressed the hope that he would have the opportunity to strengthen cooperation with African companies in various emerging industries, including new energy vehicles.
In addition, on September 6th, Geshi learned that Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Ahnush (Aziz Akhannouch) also led the Ministry of Investment, the Investment and Export Development Agency and the private sector association to inspect Guoxuan High-Tech.
To a certain extent, the above events show that in the context of global carbon neutralization, Africa has shown a strong interest in China’s new energy vehicle industry.
And Liu Yuxi, special representative of the Chinese government for African affairs, said that at present, Central Africa is the two fastest-growing economies with great potential in the world.
He said that the population of Africa is expected to increase from 14 percent of the world’s total population to 22 percent by 2050.
At the same time, the report predicts that the African electric vehicle market will reach US $21.
4 billion by 2027, and the average annual compound growth rate from 2022 to 2027 is expected to reach 10.2%. It is clear that Africa, as an emerging market of the new energy vehicle industry, has great potential for growth.
In “enterprising” Africa, the pure electricity penetration rate is less than 1%.
According to the latest United Nations Geographic Programme of the Statistics Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Africa is divided into North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa (sub-Saharan Africa is divided into Central Africa, East Africa, South Africa and West Africa), a total of 60 countries and regions.
In these countries and regions, their car production also varies a little.
According to industry data, only nine countries in Africa will be able to produce or assemble cars in 2023, four of which are in North Africa.
In the same year, Africa produced about 1.
2 million cars, South Africa the highest with 633000, Morocco second with 535000, Egypt with about 24000 and Algeria with about 2400.
The auto industry in other countries is very small.
In 2024, Morocco overtook South Africa for the first time to become the largest car producer in Africa, according to the Moroccan Economist.
According to Fitch Solutions, Morocco is expected to produce 614000 cars in 2024 and South Africa is expected to produce 591000.
Ministry of Commerce, similar to the current car markets in most countries, the African car market is still dominated by traditional fuel vehicles.
It is reported that the African automobile market is dominated by manufacturers such as Volkswagen, Toyota, Renault (including Dacia sales), Daimler, Ford, Hyundai and Isuzu.
But most of them are gasoline cars, and there are few EV products of traditional car companies such as Volkswagen.
The penetration rate of pure electric vehicles in Africa is less than 1 per cent, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Nowadays, many African countries are embarking on the new energy transformation of their automobile industry, and have introduced a number of incentive policies and measures.
For example, the Kenyan government launched the “Electric Transport” program in 2023, which aims to vigorously develop vehicles such as electric vehicles.
In addition, the Kenyan government also plans to build more electric vehicle charging stations to increase the coverage of charging facilities.
According to industry data, the number of electric vehicle registrations in Kenya increased rapidly from 475 in 2022 to 2694 in 2023.
At the same time, the overall proportion of new energy vehicles in the country is also increasing, accounting for 1.
62% of the more than 160000 newly registered vehicles in Kenya as of December 2023.
Coincidentally, South Africa issued the “Green Policy for New Energy vehicles” and the “White Paper on Electric vehicles”, which proposed a number of incentives.
According to the South African National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Naamsa), sales of new energy vehicles in South Africa increased significantly between 2021 and 2023, from 896 in 2021 to 4674 in 2022 to 7746 in 2023.
The share of new energy vehicles in the new car market in South Africa continues to rise, reaching 1.
45 per cent in 2023.
In the first quarter of this year, sales of new energy vehicles in South Africa were 3042, an increase of 82.
7% over the same period last year.
South Africa plans to have electric cars accounting for 20% of its new car market by 2025.
In addition, Ethiopia’s Herald reported that in early February this year, Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Aram announced that the country would only be allowed to sell electric cars in the future.
Encouraging policies are only the basis for a country to support related industries, and whether the industry can “thrive” after taking root in the regional market depends on whether the region has a suitable “survival soil”.
The fertile “soil” of new energy vehicles, so what is the “soil” suitable for the survival of the new energy vehicle industry in Africa? The first thing to mention must be the mineral resources of Africa.
Related research shows that the African region has a large number of lithium, nickel and other metal mineral resources, which provides sufficient raw materials for the production of electric vehicle batteries and other parts.
Among them, Congo is one of the largest producers of cobalt in the world, and cobalt is one of the important raw materials for electric vehicle batteries.
In April 2023, the African Export-Import Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa signed framework agreements with the governments of Congo and Zambia to support the two governments in establishing special economic zones for the production of battery precursors and improving the battery and electric vehicle industry chain.
Morocco has a variety of metal deposits needed to produce automotive power batteries, such as cobalt, phosphate and lithium, of which phosphate reserves are the largest in the world, accounting for about 75% of the world’s total reserves.
With the advantages of huge reserves of raw materials, geographical location close to the European market and tax concessions, the Moroccan government has stepped up its efforts to attract foreign investment and put forward the goal of building a manufacturing center for electric vehicle batteries and parts.
South Africa is also rich in mineral resources, which is one of the five largest mineral resource countries in the world, and is famous for its many kinds, large reserves and high output, and has a geological structure known as the second richest mineral in the world.
At present, South Africa has proven reserves and mined mineralsThere are more than 70 species with a total value of about 2.
5 trillion US dollars.
According to statistics, South Africa’s reserves, output and exports of platinum group metals, manganese ores, chromium ores, aluminosilicate, gold, diamonds, fluorspar, vanadium, vermiculite, zirconium ores, titanium ores and other minerals are among the highest in the world.
it even accounts for more than 50% of the world’s total.
And this has also attracted Chinese automobile industry chain enterprises, especially power battery manufacturers and battery raw material enterprises.
At present, Chinese power battery manufacturers such as Bertrand New Materials Group and Guoxuan Hi-Tech have invested and set up factories in Africa to provide key components support for the electric vehicle industry.
In August this year, Guoxuan Hi-Tech signed a strategic investment agreement with the Moroccan government to build Morocco’s first power battery super factory.
It is reported that the initial design capacity of the plant is 20 gigawatt hours, which will be gradually increased to 100 gigawatt hours in the future.
The picture shows Moroccan Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch visiting Guoxuan Hi-Tech.
the source: Guoxuan Hi-Tech Wechat official account, what is more worth mentioning that some African countries also have a solid foundation for the automobile industry.
Like South Africa.
It is reported that South Africa is the largest automobile market and manufacturing center in Africa, and it began automobile production and assembly at the beginning of the 20th century.
BMW, Daimler-Chrysler, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and other multinational companies have established production bases in South Africa.
In 2022, South Africa’s exports of cars and transportation equipment reached 11.
8 billion US dollars.
In addition, the development of the Egyptian automobile industry can also be traced back to the early 20th century.
It is reported that as early as the early 1960s, Egypt established a state-owned carmaker Nasr.
According to Egypt’s official passenger car registration data, car brands from Europe, China, Japan and South Korea accounted for almost all the market in 2023, of which 35% were sold in Europe, 26% in China, 22% in Japan and 25% in South Korea.
In terms of car brands, China’s Chery beat Japan’s Nissan and South Korea’s Hyundai with a 10% market share.
As for the new “wilderness” of Chinese car companies, what role do Chinese car companies play in the transformation of the new energy vehicle industry in Africa? According to the General Administration of Customs, in 2023, China’s exports of new energy vehicles to Africa increased by 291% year on year, and lithium batteries increased by 109% year on year.
In South Africa, Rwanda, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria and other countries, Chinese-branded new energy vehicles have made a lot of contributions to promoting the new energy process of the country’s automobile industry.
Hong Kong media “South China Morning Post” reported that in addition to ploughing the ASEAN market and seizing the South American market, Africa, an emerging market, is becoming a new aspiration for Chinese electric car manufacturers.
This is indeed the case.
In June, Naha opened its first store in Africa in Kenya, and plans to sell its electric cars to 20 African countries, opening 100 stores within three years, achieving its goal of selling more than 20,000 vehicles a year.
The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with United vehicle assembler (AVA) based in Kenya to provide training and technology transfer resources to produce electric vehicles locally in Kenya.
Zhou Jiang, vice president of Nezha, said in an interview with industry media that assembly work is expected to begin in the first half of 2025 and 250 electric vehicles will be assembled every month.
At that time, Kenya will become a hub for the export of cars from Nezha to other African countries.
Also in June this year, Xiaopeng announced that the P7 and G9 cars would enter Egypt at the end of June.
And earlier, Chinese car companies, including Geely, Dongfeng and the Great Wall, have also scrambled to enter the layout of African countries such as Morocco and South Africa.
Take Great Wall as an example.
At the end of last year, Great Wall Automobile’s Euler good Cat officially entered the African market, becoming its third overseas market after Europe and South America.
It is reported that Euler 03 offers 48kWh/63kWh two kinds of battery capacity and 105kW/126kW two kinds of motor power choice in South Africa.
In July this year, CHALLENGE magazine reported that Great Wall signed a strategic partnership with Moroccan car sales company Tractafric Motors to officially sell the Great Wall series of new energy vehicles in Morocco, mainly hybrid and pure electric models such as small SUV and light pick-up trucks, with prices ranging from US $23000 to US $36000 each.
It is reported that Taifeika Automobile sales Company is a subsidiary of Optorg Group, with 50 stores in 25 African countries, mainly representing BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and other major brands of commercial cars and passenger cars.
By the end of 2025, Taifeika plans to open 16 Great Wall stores for new energy vehicles in nine Moroccan cities.
According to the conclusion of industry analysis, whether at present or in the long run, China’s new energy vehicles go to sea in Africa showing a positive trend.
However, it should still be noted that, as foreign car companies, Chinese car companies must always think about how their complete vehicle products adapt to the country’s local market if they want to send their vehicles to other countries.
Among them, the balance between price and profit may be the first problem to be solved.
Take the South African market as an example, according to Walter Madeira, chief automotive analyst for Standard & Poor’s Global Mobile in Europe, Middle East and Africa, price is an important factor for Chinese car companies to gradually occupy some market share in South Africa.
For example, in the home SUV category, Harvard and Chery all sell for less than 500000 rand ($27000), well below the price of vehicles from European manufacturers, and most of them are equipped with omni-directional cameras, navigation and other electronic functions for free.
, return to the first electric network home page >.
