Nissan has confirmed the sale of its South African facility to Chinese consortium Chery, effectively ending a 60-year manufacturing run for the Japanese marque in the region. The deal is expected to be completed in mid-2026 as Nissan continues its fiscal recovery, and marks the seventh factory closed or sold by the Japanese brand in the last 18 months.
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Majority Of South African Workforce Retained
As confirmed in an official statement, Nissan has reached an agreement with Chery South Africa (Chery SA) for the latter to take over the land, buildings and associated assets of Nissan’s facility in Rossyln, pending “the fulfillment of certain conditions.” Notably, the deal also ensures that the “majority” of the facility’s workforce will be kept on, in similar roles.
Nissan has also confirmed that, though its vehicles will no longer officially be built in South Africa, the brand will continue to import vehicles to the region and provide support to its established customers. This is good news for fans of the Navara pick-up truck, the X-Trail, and the soon-to-go-global Magnite.
The sale of the Rosslyn plant will not, however, affect Nissan’s plans for “several new vehicle launches” in South Africa in 2026. These include the face-lifted Patrol SUV, previous generations of which were built at Rosslyn between 1959 and 1983, and the brand-new sub-compact Tekton SUV.
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Though the loss of Nissan’s South African facility could be considered a reaction to poor sales in the region (20% fewer vehicles were sold in 2025 compared with the previous year), this move, like preceding factory sales in Spain, Mexico, Thailand and Japan, is rooted more in the brand’s ongoing recovery from significant financial problems. Last November, for example, Nissan reported a net loss of 106.2 billion yen (around $689 million USD) in Q3, between July and September 2025.
Significant enough in and of itself, this marked the fifth consecutive quarterly net loss for the company since 2024, the latter its worst year for sales in more than two decades. Indeed, far from abandoning the South African market entirely, this sale allows Nissan to refocus its efforts on core markets in Europe, China, and North America.
The latter, of course, is far easier said than done. The fluctuating nature of the US government’s tariffs on non-US-made vehicles and auto parts is a concern for all automakers, including Nissan, which has just three manufacturing hubs in the US. So much so that rumors of Honda building official Nissan vehicles at its US facilities in a bid to save costs re-emerged last November.
Such are the troubled waters on which Nissan finds itself. The brand, which one company insider said was living on borrowed time, has since launched the Re:Nissan strategy to help right the ship. Significant cost-cutting measures include the sale of its main headquarters in Japan – a move that would hopefully recoup around $483 million as the brand moves to a lend-lease agreement – and the reduction from 17 plants to just 10.
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The Re:Nissan plan will see two design houses shuttered in the US and the cancellation of its brand-new electric sedans as the brand instead updates its aging range. Dealers have also been told to start selling more new cars, more quickly, even if the return is smaller than it previously might have been, as Nissan prioritizes long-term stability over short-term profit. And it seems to be working.
