The number of new energy vehicles (NEVs) sold in South Africa increased by 245.1 percent in the nine months compared to the same period last year, the National Automobile Manufacturers Association of South Africa (Naamsa) said.

In nine months, 3,092 NEVs were sold compared to 896 NEVs sold in all of 2021.

The country’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry published the “Automotive Industry Green Paper” on the implementation of NEV in May 2021.

The paper highlights that NEV in South Africa is the future driving technology adopted by the global automotive sector.

Naamsa said that the local industry is waiting for information from the government on the availability of spare parts for the production of new energy vehicles.

Alan da Silva, head of sales and marketing at auto finance company Wesbank, recently said local automakers will need to respond to changing global demand.

“They will have to convert their factories to produce NEVs and remain competitive as demand for combustion engine vehicles declines,” he said.

Government support for the South African automotive industry is needed to help the manufacturing sector adapt to these changes.

Naamsa estimates that the increase in production was driven by a strong increase in new car sales of 16.9 percent this quarter compared to the corresponding quarter in 2021 and 17.6 percent compared to the previous quarter.

With vehicle production restored to pre-pandemic levels, factories have returned to three-shift operation, as well as multi-shift operation in areas such as machining, press shops, paint shops and body shops.

Car exports in the third quarter of 2022 also increased by 92.2 percent compared to the corresponding quarter of 2021.

Employment in the industry in the third quarter increased by 690 jobs and reached 34,300 positions at the end of September 2022. This was written by Pretoria News, a partner of the TV BRICS network.