Dutch automaker Stellantis to invest $160M in South African Plant

Stellantis NV, the automaker and mobility provider headquartered in the Netherlands, will invest 3 billion rands ($160 million) alongside South Africa's Industrial Development Corp. and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition to establish a new vehicle manufacturing facility in South Africa. This project, initially outlined in a memorandum of understanding with the South African government in March, was recently finalized. The new factory is slated for construction in a special economic zone near the ports of Ngqura and Port Elizabeth in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, an area where major automakers like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen AG, and Ford Motor Co. already operate plants.

Anticipated to be completed by the end of 2024, the Stellantis facility aims to produce up to 90,000 units annually, leveraging government incentives in a sector that contributed 4.9 percent to South Africa's gross domestic product and 12.4 percent of its exports in the previous year, supporting approximately one hundred ten thousand direct jobs.