Name of the Project
Volkswagen Kariega manufacturing plant upgrade.

Location
Kariega, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

Project Owner/s
Automaker Volkswagen Group Africa.

Project Description
Volkswagen announced an investment in its Kariega manufacturing plant in April 2024.

The investment is aimed at preparing the plant to manufacture a third model from 2027. The model, which will be a sports-utility vehicle (SUV), will be manufactured on the same production platform as the Polo and Polo Vivo – Volkswagen’s top-selling passenger car brands in South Africa.

Volkswagen Brazil led the design and development of the new SUV. However, Volkswagen Group Africa’s engineering team collaborated with its Brazilian counterpart to adapt the new model to local and continental requirements such as the development of a right-hand-drive version.

It is highly likely that the South African equivalent of the Tera will be Volkswagen's most affordable SUV in the local market.

The bulk of the investment will be allocated towards production facilities, manufacturing tooling, local-content tooling and quality assurance. Nearly R877-million will be spent to enhance automation in the body shop and R418-million will be used to buy new press tooling for the press shop.

Potential Job Creation
Polo and Vivo have 46% and 58% local-content levels respectively. The trend is set to continue with the new model, which aims to achieve an estimated 40% local content through a R1.2-billion investment.

Capital Expenditure
R4-billion.

Planned Start/End Date
Production is planned to start in 2027.

Latest Developments
Volkswagen has announced that its Kariega plant will spend the next four weeks installing and upgrading facilities across its production areas.

Vehicle production of the popular Polo and Polo Vivo models will be halted from April 14 to May 12 to allow teams to carry out the required work in areas such as the body shop, paint shop and final assembly.

This planned work builds on upgrades carried out during the plant’s annual shutdown in December 2024, when about 60% of the required changes were implemented. These included the installation of 38 new fixtures, seven robots and other modifications.

The remaining 40% of the upgrades will be completed over the next four weeks. This includes finalising installations in the body shop, modifying stations and programming robots in the paint shop, and adjusting conveyors in the final assembly area. Completion of this work will also mark the beginning of the commissioning phase of the A0 SUV Entry project.

Preparations for the third model extend beyond production. The procurement team has completed supplier nominations in line with localisation targets for the new model’s components.

At the same time, the Product Development team is working with colleagues at Volkswagen do Brasil to develop the vehicle. A VWGA employee is currently stationed at the São Bernardo do Campo plant in Brazil as the technical project leader. The production team is also collaborating with their Brazilian counterparts on the model’s launch.

Volkswagen will soon invite customers across the African continent to help choose a name for the new model.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Volkswagen Group Africa head of group communications Andile Dlamini, tel +21 41 994 5042 or email andile.dlamini@vwsa.co.za.