A sleek black concept sports car is on display under the gaze of a 6-meter-tall statue of Nelson Mandela outside a Johannesburg mall. The vehicle is bait for curious passers-by, many who stop to glimpse or gawk at the supercar this Monday in late August.
The vehicle — a Lotus electric car which the company says boasts nearly 2,000 horsepower — is enveloped by a display backdrop that reads “Elite World Cup,” an automotive racing event touted to be the world’s first all-electric hypercar race series.
The stage setup at the Nelson Mandela Square mall served as the site for the glitzy launch for the automotive event on Aug. 21, with guests including South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile, the Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture Zizi Kodwa, and Fikile Mbalula, secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s ruling party.
“Mandela said that sport has got the power to change and bring people together,” Tokyo Sexwale, the co-organizer of the event and the first premier of Gauteng province where Johannesburg is located, told Caixin. Now 70, Sexwale, is a veteran member of the ANC and a fellow inmate with Mandela on Robben Island for about a decade. He has a long history as an anti-apartheid activist.
The Elite World Cup’s launch took place on the eve of the 15th BRICS Summit where participating leaders had agreed to establish a “Joint Working Group on Sports” to foster athletic cooperation among BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
“We are happy that we have done this (cooperation) before that (the working group’s official formation),” said Sexwale. “While the BRICS leaders’ summit only lasts three days, the cultural exchanges among BRICS countries are ongoing. As businessmen and activists, we must translate the decisions on paper into action.”
Jointly organized by China and South Africa, the all-electric race tournament is held in collaboration with EGT Holdings Ltd. from Hong Kong, Haiyi Auto Racing Management (Beijing) Co. Ltd. and the South African motorsport association.
Competing teams represent their respective countries, and from September to March each year, they will race cars powered entirely by clean energy, touring over 10 cities worldwide. The inaugural race is expected to kick off in September 2024, with a maximum of 25 teams, including those from BRICS countries like China and South Africa.
For the first three seasons, event organizers plan to select a standardized vehicle for participants and have discussed with several top automakers which type to use. Chosen to debut for the event is the Lotus Evija, an electric supercar developed by one of the world’s top three sports car manufacturers, Britain’s Lotus. China’s Geely owns 51% of Lotus.
Major international auto racing events, such as Formula 1 and Formula E, originated primarily in Europe or North America. But this electric hypercar Elite World Cup, with its founders hailing from China and South Africa, will not only facilitate cooperation among Global South countries but also help unlock vast and burgeoning markets in developing nations, Sexwale said. The race will also promote the transition toward cleaner transportation and low-carbon industries in South Africa, given the tournament’s focus on new-energy vehicles.
An overlooked market
Amid the electric vehicle frenzy sweeping through Asia and Europe, South Africa, with its population of 60 million and ranking third in Africa’s economic output, appears to be a somewhat overlooked market.
From January to April, South Africa’s domestic car sales totaled 176,000 units, of which battery EV sales were 284 units, accounting for a mere 0.16%, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa. Still, this figure represents more than double the number in the same period in 2022.
Globally, about 130,000 electric vehicles are sold each week. Industry forecasts generally expect global new-energy vehicle sales to surpass internal combustion engine vehicles around 2040.
Automobile manufacturing stands as the colossus of South Africa’s manufacturing landscape, constituting 5% of its GDP and furnishing over 100,000 jobs. Oriented toward exports, three-quarters of its domestically produced vehicles find customers in Europe, rather than at home.
Yet, in recent years, this industry has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, a sluggish European economy, and Europe’s aggressive push toward renewable energy. According to a South African government policy document released in 2021, the proportion of the country’s manufacturing output attributed to autos and auto parts plunged from 27.6% in 2019 to 18.7%. Exports and revenue have also both plummeted.
Industry experts in South Africa have called for the government to pivot from its automotive strategy or risk facing irreversible losses in overseas markets and jobs.
The country is also confronting a growing energy crisis. Due to aging power infrastructure, mismanagement, and slow construction of new power plants, blackouts have become a routine inconvenience. Eskom, the country’s main electricity provider, has resorted to rolling blackouts, termed “load shedding,” to alleviate strain on the national grid.
However, former race car driver Stephen Watson, who co-initiated the Elite World Cup with Sexwale, says that the power crisis is not the main obstacle to the growth of the EV sector. He told Caixin that all EVs currently in South Africa are imported brands, such as BMW, Audi, and Tesla — vehicles often priced out of reach for the average citizen.
For Watson, the future should entail a broader range of affordable EV options. Additionally, the nation lacks comprehensive EV infrastructure, an area that presents an opportunity for collaboration with Chinese investors.
Some analysts have highlighted how South African cities aren’t clustered close to one another. For example, a flight between Johannesburg and Cape Town, two of its major cities, takes two hours. That’s led to demand for vehicles boasting extended battery life and good performance at high speeds. Most imported EVs, tailored for lower-speed urban drives, are therefore not quite the fit.
In a study, Andrew Grant, a scholar at the University of Cape Town, flagged “policy uncertainty” as one reason private enterprises remain hesitant to invest in South Africa’s EV landscape. Praising the European Union’s clear-cut roadmap — such as a timeline for banning gasoline cars by 2035 — Grant said clear supportive policies, not just ambitions, are key to boosting South Africa’s EV sector.
Grant suggests a more tailored approach. As an illustration, while the government’s official plan sets an annual delivery of 50,000 EVs as a subsidy benchmark for manufacturers, a more realistic threshold might be 5,000 vehicles annually, given the market size.
Another important factor is the country’s public perception of EVs. Watson aims to shift this perception through initiatives like the Elite World Cup.
“If you see the adoption and how Chinese millennials have taken to electric vehicles, it’s a significant statement,” Watson told Caixin. In many parts of the world, younger generations still find traditional gasoline cars “cooler.”
Sometimes, it’s merely because of the roaring noise a fuel engine makes. “There’s this legacy around: hey, if my car sounds cool and growls at you, people would think I’m cool. We’ve got to change that,” Watson observes.
Watson envisions that if he could showcase, through the Elite World Cup, renowned racers driving electric race cars, it would resonate with the younger generation.
Yet, Watson acknowledges that while the Elite World Cup springs from a renewable energy perspective, South Africa’s electric vehicle industry is still in its infancy. The supporting infrastructure, such as charging piles, needs to be sped up.
But he is quick to add that progress shouldn’t wait. “Do we then sit back as an automotive industry and say we’ll wait until infrastructure is sorted out? No, we can’t wait. We must continue to evolve in parallel,” Watson said.
How, then, might China play a role in assisting South Africa’s transition to renewables?
In recent years, there’s been a growing call amongst African nations for an upgrade in China-Africa cooperation, with a suggested shift in its focus from mineral development exports and infrastructure construction to facilitating technology transfers and advancing African industrialization.
Sexwale pointed out a potential opportunity for Sino-African collaboration: addressing the challenge of recycling and reutilizing old EV batteries.
“African countries should be active participants, rather than spectators,” emphasizes Sexwale. “Africa is the youngest area. When it comes to industrialization, we are way behind. So it’s important that African industrialization should grow properly, not to make the mistakes done by America, China, and others.”
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
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