AutoTrader has released its 2022 Mid-Year Report this week, looking at some of the underlying numbers behind what South Africans have been searching for and enquiring about on its platform over the past six months.
You can download (PDF) and read the full report, but some of the more interesting insights include the fact that the Toyota Hilux remains one of, if not the most popular model of car in the country.
Added to this is South Africans love of German cars, with Volkswagen pipping BMW to the fist spot. The brands garnered 45.75 million and 43.78 million searches respectively. The brands were followed by Toyota in third, and then Mercedes-Benz and Audi to complete the top five car brands in terms of searches.
While the love affair with German cars is still alive and well, the aforementioned Hilux still reigns supreme, with it the most enquired about car. To distinguish the difference between searches and enquiries, the latter is the next step in the potential buying process and therefore an indicator of genuine interest in purchasing.
The other top five car models in the most enquired list include the Volkswagen Polo, Ford Ranger, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
Shifting to another interesting area – electric vehicles – and despite continued issues with an ailing power utility, not to mention a distinct lack of charging infrastructure in SA, there seems to be growing interest in this category, according to AutoTrader.
To that end the platform notes that there has been a 134 percent year-on-year increase in EV demand, looking at the period of January to June of 2022.
“An intriguing discussion on the future of the EV in South Africa also makes its way into the report. Given the global move to EVs, local car manufacturing strategies have begun to shift. Interest in new energy cars is also being fuelled locally, helped in good measure by the introduction of several new EV’s domestically and the launch of the first locally-built hybrid electric car, the Toyota Corolla Cross,” noted AutoTrader in a press release sent to Hypertext.
“The significant increase of investment by auto manufacturers into the production of the first generation of hybrid electric vehicles in South Africa has been an important and necessary step towards future-proofing South Africa’s auto industry,” added AutoTrader CEO, George Mienie.
In terms of the EVs that are garnering interest on the platform, again German models are taking the top spots. This as the BMW i3 has the most enquiries, followed by the Audi RS e-Tron GT, Audi e-Tron, Porsche Taycan and Jaguar I-PACE.
While there is indeed growing interest in the EV space, it is clear that it will remain out of the reach of most local motorists, given the class and pricing of the models above.
If more affordable options land locally, perhaps interest and the necessary infrastructure to support it, will also materialise.
[Image – Photo by Erik Mclean on Unsplash]
