Chinese Car Sales Skyrocketing in Botswana, Reject Expensive Western Options (for Now)

In the same country where China helped build thousands of miles of roads, coal-fired power stations, and hospitals, among other initiatives, the Chinese automotive sector has made an impact on Botswana in a way that's bound to affect the makeup of this landlocked African nation's roads and highways for decades. In a story first reported by the Chinese publication Xinhua, prominent Chinese automakers like Chery, makers of some of the first commercially successful Chinese passenger cars in Europe and Oceania, Haval, owned by the monolithic Great Wall Motor group, and BAIC Group, one of China's oldest post-war automakers, have all taken up shop in the Botswanan capital of Gaborone in the last five years.

The sprawling capital city is no stranger to four-wheeled transportation like other parts of the developing world. With a vehicle density of 254 vehicles per 1,000 people per a report by the Botswanan publication MmegiOnline in 2019, the makeup of this automotive metropolis may soon change from international companies making cars domestically in Africa like Toyota, Volkswagen, and General Motors, towards a more Chinese-centric vehicle base. For a nation so rich in precious resources like coal, copper, nickel, and even diamonds and gold, whoever supplies Botswana with automobiles may soon lay claim to the wealth of materials beneath the soil.

But closer to home, the increase in imports of Chinese vehicles like the Haval H1 and H6, the Chery Tigo Series, and the BAIC Beijing X55 is beginning to create new job opportunities for men and women in the Botswanan capital, particularly for Haval, who recently opened its first dealership in Gaborone. "The brand has a lot to offer in terms of cost, technology, automotive design, and comfort." Said Bellson Othomile, the Sales Executive at Motor Holdings Botswana, the company tasked with managing the Haval brand in the country.

"Chinese cars are starting to become a good alternative to brands that previously dominated the Southern African automotive markets." Though the build quality of Chinese cars, particularly their EVs, is routinely held to scrutiny in the West, these vehicles still often prove a considerable upgrade to the often outdated and antiquated vehicles Botswanans drive on a regular basis.

If opportunity were the mother of ambition, Chinese automakers have seized the opportunity to capitalize on a portion of Africa routinely overlooked by Western manufacturers, who often build outdated variants of their own vehicles in Africa rather than building bespoke new models just for the continent. Though not native Africans either, tempting offers to entice customers like a one million-kilometer (621,371.1-mi) or ten-year warranty on Chery vehicles, are proving powerful tools to bridge the considerable cultural gap between Southern Africa and East Asia a far easier pill to swallow.

With upwards of 5,200 km (3,231.1 mi) of roads built in Botswana via Chinese capital to the tune of 1.2 billion Botswanan Pula, or $103 million in American money, according to Chinese media, The effect this investment has had on Botswana has already been significant. Far before these road infrastructure projects have neared completion and flanked by support from what appears on the surface to be a thriving automotive sector, China's expeditionary efforts in Africa seem especially profound to Botswana in particular.

At the ninth-annual Shell Gaborone Motor Show, Chinese brands represented the bulk of the event space. In front of thousands of prospective buyers ready to ditch their often decades-old German, Japanese, or American vehicles, they heard sales pitches from Chinese automakers offering to undercut their rivals considerably. With the allure of the most modern creature comforts like satellite navigation, iOS Car Play and Android Auto, and collision-avoidance hardware, said sales pitches are undoubtedly tempting to the average Botswanan commuter.

"The price is totally different and below what you can usually expect. When you look at the interior of the car, the technology of the car, how it drives, and how it looks in general," Othomile said of the Haval brand, but is applicable to a number of Chinese brands new to Africa. "That was the more compelling aspect of the product." For a country with an under-the-radar middle class expanding more rapidly each year, future Botswanan roads chocked full of Chinese EVs seem a strong possibility.

However, current trends do not always predict future success. If reliability and build quality issues are pointed out in Chinese cars by Western outlets, they will make their way to the Okavango Delta, and the same middle class that made Chinese cars an institution could just as easily start buying Chevrolets and V8s again. On a complicated global geopolitical chess board, Chinese cars on Botswanan roads are just one tiny yet remarkable cog.