A drive down memory lane to the birth of Volkswagen South Africa and how the Kariega (Uitenhage) plant has grown to be one of the largest motor assemblers in Africa, will have to be done in a Beetle.
The journey starts in 1946 when South African Motor Assemblers and Distributors (SAMAD) drove into town after being offered twenty hectares of industrial land in the Swartkops Valley for a mere R2 500. Initially Port Elizabeth was earmarked for the site of the factory, but negotiations with the then municipality took longer than SAMAD had planned. The town fathers of the then Uitenhage took advantage of the delay. The new company was destined to flourish and grow into the giant that today is Volkswagen of South Africa, the heartbeat of Kariega.
Businessman, Baron Klaus Von Oertzen from Auto Union, met with Heinz Nordhoff, managing director of Volksagenwerk in Germany, and a remarkable series of developments thousands of kilometres apart brought Volkswagen to Uitenhage. Von Oertzen was offered the Volkswagen distributing franchise for South Africa and was granted his first import permits in return for brokering the export of South African wine. One good deal led to another and in 1951 a historic meeting took place when it was agreed that the SAMAD factory in Uitenhage would assemble and distribute Volkswagen vehicles.
By 31 August 1951, Uitenhage’s first VW Beetle drove off the production line. This momentous occasion is regarded as the birth of Volkswagen of South Africa, exactly 70 years ago. It was an immediate success and sales between 31 August and 31 December 1951 added up to 290 vehicles.
Another momentous occasion the same year on 13 December, was the production of SAMAD’s 10 000th vehicle to be assembled since 1948, a Studebaker. In 1956 Volkswagen AG (Aktiengesellschaft) bought a controlling interest in SAMAD and the plant became part of the global Volkswagen Group’s supply network. It stopped the assembly of Austins, Studebakers and later Volvos and Jeeps as well.
- In 1966 the company was renamed Volkswagen of South Africa.
Production milestones
To date, the plant in Kariega has produced over 4 million vehicles. The one-millionth vehicle, a Golf 2, was assembled in November 1986. The plant hit the two-million mark in March 2003 with the production of a Jetta 4. In 2012, the three-millionth vehicle was delivered, and most recently the plant reached the four-millionth vehicle, a Polo, in November 2020.
The plant also operates an engine plant which produces engines for export. On 11 June 2018, the Engine plant produced its one-millionth EA111 engine.
VWSA has been the sole manufacturer of all new right-hand-drive Polo hatchbacks since 2010. The current record for production volume in one year was achieved in 2019, when the plant manufactured 161 954 vehicles in a single year.
In 2020, the Volkswagen brand in South Africa also achieved a local market share of 21,6% – the highest in the history of VWSA, and the highest market share for Volkswagen worldwide in this pandemic-stricken year.
