The Future of the Automotive Manufacturing Industry in Developing Nations: A Case Study of its Sustainability Based on South Africa’s Paradigm

Liberalisation of the automotive industry in most developing countries has been difficult, especially in areas where strict controls previously existed. This has put significant pressure on the emerging market, causing the automotive industry to constantly seek better methods such as improving the standard operating procedures to stay competitive, particularly as observed in South Africa. The paper presents research findings on the key elements that influence the automotive industry’s competitiveness, using the South African automotive sector as a case study based on its similarity with other developing countries that contribute about the same percentage to their national GDP, with similar automotive industry size. Also presented is the result of the analysis carried out on the industry’s competitiveness to determine its sustainability. The findings show the need for urgent actions that will mitigate the decline of the industry’s competitiveness.