For years, Chinese automakers approached Africa primarily as an export market. Vehicles were manufactured in China, shipped to African ports, and sold to consumers through growing dealer networks. That model is beginning to change. In July, Chery opened a manufacturing plant at South Africa’s former Nissan facility in Rosslyn, marking the Chinese automaker’s shift from importer to local manufacturer and giving China’s automotive expansion in Africa a more industrial dimension.
Chery plans to begin production at Rosslyn in mid-2027, initially targeting 15,000 vehicles during the ramp-up period before reaching an annual capacity of 50,000 units. The company intends to manufacture Chery, Jaecoo, and Jetour vehicles at the facility, which it sees as an African manufacturing and export hub. The move is significant not because South Africa is becoming another destination for Chinese cars, but because it illustrates a broader question for Africa: can Chinese automotive companies move from selling into African markets to producing for them inside the continent?
From Exporter to Local Manufacturer
The Rosslyn plant is a particularly visible example of that transition. Chery acquired the former Nissan manufacturing facility after Nissan ended vehicle production there. Rather than building an entirely new factory, the Chinese company is reactivating an existing industrial asset with decades of automotive experience behind it. The plant, originally built in 1963, is expected to retain all 692 existing employees, while Chery projects nearly 3,000 direct and indirect jobs across manufacturing, logistics, engineering, supply chains, and related services. Chery also plans to increase local content. The company has set an initial target of reaching a 40% localization rate by 2028, while developing the facility beyond assembly into a broader hub incorporating research and development, manufacturing, supply-chain operations, skills training, and exports.
That distinction matters. A factory assembling imported components creates jobs and adds some local value, but it does not automatically create a domestic automotive industry. The deeper economic impact comes when production begins pulling local suppliers, engineering services, logistics companies, technicians, and other businesses into the same industrial ecosystem.
Africa Wants More Than Imported Cars
For African governments, that is the attraction of local production.
Vehicle imports can expand consumer choice and make relatively affordable Chinese models available to growing markets. But local manufacturing offers something different: employment, industrial capabilities, supplier networks, technical skills, and potentially export revenue. South Africa is particularly well positioned to pursue this model because it already has an established automotive manufacturing base, industrial infrastructure, supplier networks, and experience producing vehicles for export. Chery's investment therefore involves adapting an existing industrial ecosystem rather than creating one from scratch.
That helps explain why the company chose Rosslyn. The project can give Chery access not only to South African consumers but also to the country's wider automotive supply chain and regional export capabilities.
The same logic is attracting Chinese automakers elsewhere. BAIC Foton, for example, said in June that its Africa division had established 12 assembly plants and eight training centers, with more than 1,000 service workers across the continent. The company has described its strategy as moving from simply “going global” to going deeper into local markets and bringing more of its industrial chain with it. The degree of localization, however, varies considerably between projects. That is why the distinction between assembly and manufacturing will become increasingly important as Chinese automotive companies expand across Africa.
The Electric Vehicle Question
The shift is also taking place as Africa's automotive market begins to intersect with China's dominance in electric and hybrid vehicles. Chery plans to produce plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles at Rosslyn alongside conventional models. Other Chinese manufacturers are pursuing similar opportunities as African governments introduce incentives and policies aimed at developing electric mobility and local battery value chains. Zimbabwe's lithium resources and plans for battery-related investment, for example, are becoming part of the broader conversation around African EV production.
This gives Chinese companies an additional advantage. China already has extensive experience across the EV supply chain, from batteries and components to vehicle manufacturing. Africa, meanwhile, has many of the raw materials needed for the energy transition but relatively little downstream automotive manufacturing. The potential relationship is therefore straightforward: Africa has resources and emerging markets; China has industrial capacity and automotive technology. Turning that potential into manufacturing, however, requires considerably more than either side of those two advantages.
Assembly Is Not Yet an Industrial Ecosystem
The Rosslyn project itself illustrates the challenge.
Chery has committed to increasing local content, but the plant will initially continue to rely substantially on imported components while local supplier capacity develops. That means the economic value created in South Africa will initially be smaller than it would be if a significant share of components were manufactured locally.
This is where African industrial policy becomes critical.
If local governments focus only on attracting assembly plants, they may end up with factories that import most of their components, employ relatively limited numbers of workers, and remain dependent on decisions made elsewhere. If they can attract suppliers at the same time, develop technical skills, improve logistics and electricity reliability, and create predictable industrial policies, assembly can become the starting point for a much deeper manufacturing ecosystem. That distinction will be particularly important for countries that lack South Africa's existing automotive base.
What It Means for Central Africa
For Central Africa, the lesson is not that the region is about to become an automotive manufacturing center. There is little evidence to support such a claim.The more relevant question is what would have to change for that possibility to become realistic?
Countries in the region have large and growing consumer markets, rapidly expanding urban populations, and significant demand for commercial vehicles. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, has enormous mining and infrastructure activity that creates demand for trucks and other commercial vehicles. Chinese manufacturers are already building their presence around such markets: BAIC Foton's African teams have been active in the DRC, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and other countries, alongside its expanding sales, service, and assembly network.
But market demand alone does not create manufacturing.
Central African countries would need reliable electricity, industrial land, logistics infrastructure, skilled workers, supplier networks, predictable tariffs, and access to sufficiently large regional markets. They would also need policies that encourage companies to source more components locally rather than simply importing completely or partially assembled vehicles. That is a much higher threshold than attracting a dealership.
China's Africa Strategy Is Becoming More Industrial
Chery's Rosslyn investment does not prove that Chinese automakers are abandoning exports in favor of African manufacturing. Nor does one factory mean that Africa is on the verge of becoming a global automotive production center.
What it does show is a potentially important change in the form of China's commercial engagement with African markets. Chinese companies are increasingly looking at Africa not only as a destination for Chinese-made products but also as a place where some of those products can be assembled, manufactured, serviced, and eventually exported.
For African countries, that creates an opportunity — but also a policy challenge. The objective should not simply be to persuade a Chinese company to put its logo on a factory. It should be to ensure that the factory becomes connected to the wider economy through local suppliers, workers, skills, technology, and exports. Chery's Rosslyn plant will therefore be worth watching for a reason that goes beyond the number of cars it eventually produces. The real test is whether Chinese automotive investment can turn Africa from a growing market for Chinese cars into part of the production chain itself.
