• AutoTrader has released its latest Car Industry Report for 2022, looking at the most popular vehicles locally, as well as some growing trends.
• SA’s most popular car brand is Volkswagen, while the country’s most popular model is the Toyota Hilux.
• Online shopping for cars was also on the rise in 2022, increase 10 percent compared to the previous year.

South Africa is Toyota Hilux country, if the latest Car Industry Report from AutoTrader is to be believed. The online vehicle marketplace has released its findings for 2022, highlighting the most popular car brand on its platform, along with the most popular car model, as well as a few other interesting trends for the local motoring industry.

When it comes to popularity, AutoTrader explains that Volkswagen is the most popular brand in terms of searches, while the Toyota Hilux is most popular when it comes to specific car models. Rounded out the top five is the VW Polo and Golf in second and third respectively, with those followed by another bakkie in the form of the Ford Ranger, and then the BMW 3 Series.

Looking at some of the interesting information gleaned from the data obtained by AutoTrader shows a significant rise in online vehicle shopping throughout 2022.

To that end the platform explains that, “The number of in-market car shoppers grew by 10% year-on-year in 2022 – ending with over 35 million users. In a similar vein, visits to the AutoTrader website also increased by 10% in 2022 – generating over 120 million visits in total. Last year, over 653 million online vehicle searches were conducted, a record high and a 94% increase over 2019.”

Another interesting tidbit is the fact that both average prices of vehicles, as well as average mileage on used cars rose, potentially showing that consumers wanted more for their cars than in previous years, along with being willing to accept cars with a few more kilometres on the odometer.

“The average price and mileage of used cars also increased last year. The report reveals that average prices rose by 16% in 2022 to R432,407 while average mileages recorded a slight upturn – from 75,413 to 75,939 km,” added AutoTrader in a press release sent to Hypertext.

Lastly worth mentioning is South Africans love of the bakkie, with the Hilux scoring high in a few other metrics from the report too.

“The indomitable Toyota Hilux was the most viewed model. Finally, enquiry data points to the brand or car that consumers are most likely to buy. And here South Africans spoke with one voice: the most enquired on brand was Toyota with South Africa’s favourite bakkie, the Toyota Hilux also generating the most enquiries,” concluded AutoTrader.

To download (PDF) and read the report for yourself, head here.