SOUTH Africa needs to regulate swiftly to spur demand for electric vehicles (EVs), the co-CEO of the local unit of Mercedes-Benz said, as the country's automotive industry risks being irrelevant to the global market. For South Africa as a whole, three-quarters of its vehicle production is exported. The luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz exports 90% of its total South African output, primarily to Europe, which plans to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035. At the same time, South Africa's policy paper on EVs is two years behind schedule. The government has said it will be published this year. "The…