Mureza, a licenced car manufacturer in South Africa, has yet to sell a single vehicle in the 12 years that it has been registered, which it attributes to one simple reason: strategy.
Mureza was first registered as a formal company in 2011 in Zimbabwe, expanding its headquarters to South Africa in 2016 and registering under CIPC regulations as Mureza Auto Co.
In 2020, it registered a second entity in South Africa, Mureza Holdings, under which its manufacturing licence was awarded in March 2021 by the Department of Transport and National Regulator for Compulsory Specification.
Initially, the company announced that it would launch the Prim8 hatchback as its first vehicle in the local market in 2021, produced in partnership with Iran’s SAIPA Motor Corp as a rebadged variant of the Saipa Quik.
However, 2021 came and went, so did 2022, and in response to social media reports in 2023 that alleged that the Prim8 was finally starting deliveries, Mureza admitted that it has not yet sold a single vehicle in the country and that no shipments have taken place.
TopAuto reached out to the aspiring manufacturer to find out what has been the reason for this delay in its highly-anticipated vehicle. In response, Mureza said it all came down to its “strategy.”
“Our business model has evolved to being a leader in the EV [electric vehicle] manufacturing space and we are no longer prioritising rolling out ICE [internal combustion engine] vehicles,” said the company.
“The delay has allowed us to grow other aspects of our business that have more relevance in how we develop our products as EVs and the value chain to ensure sustainable capacity once we start rolling out products.”
2021 Mureza Prim8 hatch
Some bad, some good news for South Africa
Mureza noted that it currently has approximately 6,000 units of the Prim8 that are being kept in a bonded warehouse in Tehran, Iran, while they are “prepared for the African market.”
These preparations include:
- Custom branding and detailing
- Installing custom suspension components for African road conditions
- Adaptive tests in the target regions including homologation over 12 months
- Setting up distribution channels and aftermarket partners in the countries Mureza aims to operate
Unfortunately for its would-be local customers, though, Mureza confirmed that due to the large majority of its stock being left-hand drive (LHD), the original Prim8 will no longer be offered in South Africa and its rollout will instead be focused on West African countries.
The first order of 3,000 vehicles will commence deliveries to one of the company’s “major clients in West Africa in November 2023,” it said.
2024 Mureza Prim8 Sedan EV
For South Africa, Mureza will now pivot to new Prim8-branded EVs including a hatchback, sedan, and half-ton bakkie.
It highlighted that the sedan is 80% production-ready despite only being unveiled in October in concept form, and that it will retail from as little as R225,000 – which is R461,000 less than the current most affordable EV in South Africa.
To lower the raised eyebrows, Mureza said this low starting price is attributed to its local procurement strategies, in-house design abilities, and the use of additive manufacturing (aka 3D printing).
“We design the vehicle in-house, and we use local raw materials (most of the critical minerals in the battery manufacturing process we actually own mineral claims for – Lithium, Copper, Graphite, Cobalt, Manganese, and Iron Ore), therefore, our local production cost is 60% less than most global OEMs [original equipment manufacturers],” the company told TopAuto.
“Over the past three years, we have been acquiring strategic pieces of land and getting into partnerships that actually reduce our R&D costs and logistics costs. Local value chains bring down the cost of production to a fraction of global OEMs and we manage to pass on that saving to our potential customers.”
Mureza has invested in the “best 3D-printing technology” in the industry, too, which allows it to make adjustments during the production process with little effort, thus reducing overall costs by 70% as well as the time-to-market from inception to showroom by 90% compared to traditional OEMs, the company claims.
Pre-orders for the new Prim8 Sedan EV are therefore scheduled to open in November 2023 with “verified lead times” and deliveries are expected to start in 2024.
“We also have a 1-ton bakkie and a premium SUV currently under development,” said Mureza.
Mureza current and future vehicles
What’s next for Mureza
According to Mureza, its first South African production facility is situated in Mogwase, North West province, and will be ready to build the Prim8 EVs in early 2024.
By 2025, the brand aims to have active sites not only in South Africa, but also in Angola, the DRC, Kenya, Namibia, Niger, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
“Start of production is in 2024 for South Africa and that is the most important one. All others will be announced in due course,” said Mureza.
The local factory will live stream the production of its first prototype vehicle, with a countdown timer soon to be posted on the company’s website and social media pages.
Mureza brand implementation plan
In the meantime, all of Mureza’s production is hosted by SAIPA in Tehran, and through this partnership, it is able to satisfy “any surge in demand” and “guarantee that customers can receive their vehicles in 90 days maximum in Africa,” said the company.
However, the contract with SAIPA is scheduled to expire in 2023, after which Mureza has signed an agreement to work with Chinese automaker BAIC which already has a relatively strong presence within our borders.
In the next 24 months, the African carmaker also plans to get listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, and it has “already secured a well-established investment partner as an underwriter” for this endeavour.
Keyword: Why this 12-year-old South African automaker has never sold a car