By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday, 24 July 2025, said that with the electric vehicle white paper and the incentive programme, the country has committed to a stable, predictable and supportive framework for companies to be able to invest in South Africa.
Ramaphosa attended a showcase of the successful implementation of the latest investment for production of the new BMW X3 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle at the automaker’s plant at Rosslyn, Pretoria.
Themed “BMW Group South Africa: Leading Today, Enabling Tomorrow”, the event marking the start of the new vehicle will highlight the firm’s commitment to strengthening South Africa’s economic vitality and advancing industrial innovation.
The new BMW X3 has been declared South Africa’s Car of the Year for 2025.
BMW Group announced further investment in its plant operations in Rosslyn during the President’s Investment Conference held on 13 April 2023, as a commitment to South Africa.
“Through the Automotive Production and Development Programme and, more recently, the Electric Vehicle (EV) White Paper and incentive programme, we have committed to a stable, predictable and supportive framework for companies to invest, localise and grow in South Africa.
Incentivising EV production for export and simultaneously supporting the growth of the local EV market is an imperative,” he said.
The transition to battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen mobility is gathering momentum and the shift to green mobility and electrification in vehicle production is in line with commitments by countries to reduce emissions and support the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient global economy.
“The global shift to clean vehicles presents opportunities for the local component manufacting sector, whose focus has been on internal combustion engine (ICE) components. With our significant reserves of critical minerals, we must become a hub for processing and beneficiation.
“We are finalising targeted incentives for battery cell localisation, EV component manufacture, clean mobility research and design and critical mineral beneficiation,” he said.
South Africa is the twenty-second largest vehicle exporter globally, with our main export destinations being the EU, the US and the UK. The African continent is a growing export market, particularly within the Southern African Development Community region, he said.
“Many world-class vehicles are manufactured right here at this plant, including both ICE and hybrid models from the BMW X family, and now we have reached another milestone with the production of the BMW X3 plug-in hybrid EV, “he said.
The production locally of the BMW X3 plug-in hybrid was a symbol of trust. South Africa was greatly encouraged by the company ongoing investment as it strove to build a low-carbon economy of the future, he added.
Further, the automotive sector was a lynchpin of South Africa’s industrial strategy. The sector contributed approximately 4.9% to GDP, and supported more than 115 000 direct manufacturing jobs and more than half a million across the value chain, he noted.
The Rosslyn plant is a testament to BMW’s longstanding presence in the South African market. This world-class facility was the first BMW plant to be built outside of Germany and has been at the centre of the group’s operations since 1973.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of Presidency.