JSE-listed car components manufacturer Metair will spend R837m, with the bulk of the money going towards expanding its facility to accommodate the new Toyota Hilux model.
About R288m of the budget will be allocated for essential maintenance, quality and health and safety requirements, and R549m for expansion primarily for “a major customer who is introducing a new model vehicle”.
Metair CEO Paul O’Flaherty said in an interview that expansion of the facility will protect jobs because, without the customer expanding, they’d have to shut some lines if they didn’t actually produce this new vehicle.
Metair supplies a broad range of automotive parts for car manufacturers that have plants locally, and it also sells parts for pre-owned vehicles.
Revenue from the OEM (Automotive Component Manufacturing) segment grew by 66% to R11.7bn, driven by steady volumes supplied to key OEM customers, Hesto’s inclusion as a subsidiary, and its strong performance.
O’Flaherty said the SA automotive industry experienced “sharply divergent market conditions” in 2025.
New vehicle sales grew strongly by 16%, driven by a 30% surge in imports. Metair also sells car parts for pre-owned vehicles through its retail platforms, including Autozone, and batteries through First Battery.
O’Flaherty said the trading environment in the aftermarket car parts was challenging. The aftermarket parts and retail segment grew revenue by 42% to R6.1bn, and earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) decreased by 8% to R246m, mainly due to the inclusion of AutoZone, which was acquired a year ago.
O’Flaherty said AutoZone’s recovery continued. The Autozone acquisition “represents a strategic step change in Metair’s presence and positioning in the aftermarket sector and a robust platform for future growth”.
Metair faces risk in the new vehicle parts business — Automotive Component Manufacturing — given the pressure car manufacturers are under because of the influx of new Asian brands in SA.
O’Flaherty said the concern is that the traditional original equipment manufacturers, or carmakers, in South Africa sell about a third of their new vehicles locally, so if the Chinese and the Indian brands fight them on that third, they’ve got to find export markets to export to.
“So for our (components) manufacturing business, we need those OEMs to produce as much as possible, so it’s more of a risk on our OEM manufacturing, as opposed to our aftermarket. We need to deconcentrate our risk, and so we’re putting a lot of attention into our aftermarket parts in retail to balance the portfolio. At the moment, that portfolio of aftermarket parts and retail accounts for about 30% of our revenue, but we need to grow that quickly and get to 40% as soon as we can,” he said.
O’Flaherty said the aftermarket industry is a “very fragmented market.”
“Our estimations for where we would serve — it’s about a $10bn market per annum. That’s the size of the prize in South Africa. We currently do under $2bn. So there’s a huge opportunity to capitalise on this. So that’s the bigger picture. We’ve got 180 stores, so we are well-positioned with those stores,” he said.
He also mentioned they have about 100 franchises for their battery business.
“So, it’s really getting the right stock on the shelves. It’s really getting what the consumer wants. We think the consumer is starting to spend, certainly on second parts for their vehicles, as their vehicles get older. So we see significant opportunities. We’re not starting from scratch. We have a very good footprint.”
Metair will also look for more opportunities in the rest of the continent. It already has a presence in East Africa through its battery operation.
O’Flaherty said there are 13-million light commercial and passenger vehicles on the road in South Africa. Those vehicles are getting older and older, and that car park has a lot of traditional Japanese and German vehicles. “However, with the new Chinese and Indian vehicles that come on the road, we ensure that we have the parts for those vehicles,” he said.
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