Isuzu Motors South Africa (Imsa) is positioning itself to become Africa's hub for truck manufacturing and exports as part of its plan to boost production and local sourcing of parts.
Imsa chief executive Billy Tom said he was in discussions with Japan to relocate more commercial truck production to South Africa, from where it can scale up truck exports to West Africa.
Reuters reports that the company is aiming for 45% production localisation and has already run trials of building truck bodies locally.
However, it still imports some from China and the Middle East.
Isuzu aims to grow its African production volumes to 45%, up from about 15% six years ago and the current 22–23%.
The manufacturer already ships pickups to more than 30 countries in Africa.
This comes as South Africa’s automotive industry faces growing pressure from surging vehicle imports, particularly from China.
Low domestic sales of locally assembled cars and low local content levels had led to 12 company closures and 4 000 job losses over the past two years, said Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
The country produced 515 850 vehicles in 2024, well below the South African Automotive Master Plan 2035 target of 784 509.
South Africa’s vehicle exports to the US have also dropped 73% in the first quarter of 2025 and fell 80% in April and 85% in May, according to industry data.
The decrease in shipped units came on the back of Washington’s decision to slap a 30% tariff on South African imports.
