Ramaphosa to keynote Volkswagen's 75-year manufacturing milestone in Eastern Cape

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the keynote address Monday at the Volkswagen Group Africa 75th Anniversary Gala Dinner, held at the company’s manufacturing facility in Kariega, Nelson Mandela Bay, in the Eastern Cape. The event, themed “A Legacy in Motion: Honouring the past, celebrating today, driving tomorrow,” will mark three-quarters of a century of automotive production and the operational footprint the German carmaker has built across the country and continent.

The Kariega plant is the operational core of that legacy. Established in 1946 as South African Motor Assemblers and Distributors (SAMAD) for Studebaker assembly, the facility transitioned to Volkswagen production and rolled out its first Beetle on August 31, 1951. Over seven and a half decades, the plant has delivered nearly 40 different vehicle models and produced more than 4.8 million units, with over three million destined for the domestic market. Today it operates as the sole global manufacturer of the Volkswagen Polo, exporting the model to 38 countries while also producing the Polo Vivo for local consumption.

The scale of Volkswagen Group Africa’s operational presence extends well beyond the Eastern Cape. The company operates assembly facilities in Kenya, Rwanda and Ghana, establishing a manufacturing footprint across the continent. Within South Africa, the operation employs approximately 3,600 people directly and supports 1,440 suppliers. The broader economic impact reaches approximately 50,000 indirect jobs across the supply chain and related sectors.

Investment in the manufacturing infrastructure has been substantial. Since 2010, Volkswagen has committed more than R13 billion to South African facilities. Corporate Social Investment spending since 1994 has exceeded R800 million, reflecting decades of operational commitment to the regions where the company manufactures.

The gala will serve multiple operational and strategic purposes. According to the Presidency, the celebration will reflect on Volkswagen’s journey and contribution to South Africa’s automotive manufacturing sector and regional economy, honour the generations of employees, partners, dealers, suppliers and customers who have sustained the company’s operations, and highlight key milestones and achievements across the 75-year timeline.

Beyond retrospective acknowledgment, the event will address forward-looking manufacturing challenges. The celebration will provide an opportunity to examine the state of the local automotive industry, including industry challenges, competitiveness, policy requirements and the future of manufacturing in South Africa. Those discussions carry particular weight given the sector’s role in the country’s industrial base and export economy.

A significant operational announcement is also planned. Volkswagen will officially unveil a new vehicle model to be built at the Kariega plant, signalling continued investment in the facility’s production capacity and product portfolio.

The gathering will showcase Volkswagen’s expanding manufacturing footprint across Africa and its strategy to develop sustainable automotive ecosystems and strengthen mobility solutions across the continent. The Kariega plant, in that framing, is not a legacy operation alone. It is an active node in an evolving manufacturing and logistics network serving multiple markets, and the question the new model announcement leaves open is how much further that network will grow.