How many cars were exported out of South Africa in the past year

South Africa exported a grand total of 351,785 cars in 2022, according to the latest report from the Automotive Industry Export Council (AIEC).

This is 53,765 units more than the 298,020 units sent overseas in 2021, translating to a 9.5% increase.

Vehicle exports

In 2021, South Africa’s vehicle and automotive part exports were valued at R207.5 billion, which has since increased to a record-breaking R227.3 billion as of 2022.

The car industry is the single largest contributor to the country’s manufacturing sector, and its improved output accounts for a 21.7% increase in value for the sector as a whole.

In fact, locally-produced cars now represent approximately 12.4% of all the country’s exports, according to the AIEC.

It also noted that vehicle component sales went up by R1.1 billion for a new total of R70.3 billion in 2022.

The domestic industry shipped vehicles to as many as 152 different countries in 2022, with 29 of these markets reporting a more than 100% increase in export value over the course of the past year.

The top recipient of South African-made cars in 2022 was India, which took in 165,910 units. This was followed by China which received 10.8% of the country’s outbound models.

The European Union and the UK remain the single largest bloc-recipient, however, as they accounted for 58.8% (R133.2 billion) of local exports last year.

State of the industry

The AIEC attributes the improved export performance to the lifting of the country’s lockdown restrictions last year but notes that several adverse events, both internal and external, led to serious downsides for the global and domestic economies.

“Although the domestic automotive industry’s recovery to pre-pandemic levels continued in 2022, it was at a slower pace than in 2021 and many key performance indicators still remained below the pre-pandemic levels,” it said.

Even so, South Africa’s trading environment is extremely competitive by global standards, with 43 passenger car brands and 2,513 different models on offer – making it the greatest selection-to-market-size ratio in the world.

Seven out of the top 10 best-selling cars in the country are locally made, including three bakkies and four passenger cars, and new energy vehicles saw a dramatic uptake of 421% – going from 896 units in 2021 to 4,674 units spread across 15 brands in 2022.

Taken as a whole, the automotive sector contributes 4.9% to South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) – broken up into 2.9% from manufacturing and 2.0% from retail – which works out to a net value of R435 billion.