More than 2,000 workers at BMW’s factory in South Africa have started a strike over pay that has slowed output, the carmaker said.

BMW’s spokesman in South Africa, Guy Kilfoil, said the strike began last Thursday and was likely to lead to a loss of production of nearly 1,700 3-series sedans as of the end of Wednesday.

“All of those cars need to re-allocated to other plants around the world and obviously affects our reputation with our customers quite badly,” Kilfoil said.

The Rossyln factory outside Pretoria produces 82,000 cars a year with nearly 70,000 of those exported to countries such as the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia.

Ford, Toyota face strikes

In a separate development, South Africa’s biggest union for the manufacturing sector, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, plans to launch a national strike in the auto industry from Aug. 19 after wage negotiations deadlocked, a senior union official said today.

The strike is expected to hit manufacturers including Toyota and Ford Motor Co., Alex Mashilo, chief negotiator for NUMSA, told Reuters.

“The national executive committee will formalize the strike notice tomorrow for the start of a national strike on Monday,” Mashilo said, adding the labor action will continue until a wage settlement is reached.

More than 31,000 workers are expected to down tools in Africa’s largest car manufacturing country.