South Africans’ appetite for new-energy vehicles, especially full-electric vehicles (EVs), has increased significantly during the past year, a new analysis of the used-car data from Cars.co.za shows.
“To put it simply, the demand for used hybrid or full-electric vehicles on our site outstrips supply,” said Hannes Oosthuizen, consumer experience manager at Cars.co.za.
“Finding a pre-owned BMW i3, for example, is no simple task and, when you do find one, expect to pay a premium.”
“When we compared data from the first six months of 2022 with that of the corresponding period in 2021, we discovered that demand – calculated with the use of several key indicators – for hybrids went up by 67.7% year-on-year (YoY), while demand for full EVs increased by a staggering 155.5% YoY,” Oosthuizen added.
He noted, however, that such increases are off a relatively low base. He noted that the introduction of a number of hybrids by South Africa’s most popular brand Toyota, in particular, has driven interest to some extent.
“We have seen tremendous interest in the new hybrid models of Haval as well. Interestingly, when it comes to this Chinese brand in general, we have seen a demand increase of 367.7% YoY, indicating that there is far more demand relative to stock availability.”
“Of course, we’re still waiting for the arrival of truly affordable EVs in the new-vehicle market, but when we analyse the behaviour of our site visitors who put through enquiries (on any vehicles), we find those people are increasingly researching hybrids and EVs in their purchasing journeys.”
South Africa’s automotive sector is in the midst of unprecedented change marked by the continued advancement of New Energy Vehicles (NEV), said the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa).
“Over the last two years, the South African automotive industry has worked on the New Energy vehicle policy and has produced a green paper and a number of studies to access feasibility,” said Naamsa.
Although the South African market is dominated by petrol and diesel vehicles, the hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicle markets have increased with a collective markup of 176.5% in 2021 and 896 total NEV units, added the association.
More recently, 2022 year-to-date data as of March 2022 showed hybrid local production being recorded at 1,110 with total imports at 301, EVs at 112 units, plug-in hybrids at 32 and traditional hybrids at 157.
Currently, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid costs R425,400 and sports a fuel consumption rate of 4.3L/100km and a top speed of 170k/h.
BusinessTech looked at five of the most affordable traditional hybrid alternatives that are available new to South Africans:
Toyota Corolla Cross 1.8 Hybrid Xs – R425,400
- Fuel consumption: 4.3L/100km
- Power and torque: 90kW, 142Nm
Toyota Corolla 1.8 hybrid XS – R439,000
- Fuel consumption: 3.5L/100km
- Power and torque: 90kW, 42Nm
Honda Fit Hybrid – R498,600
- Fuel consumption: 3.7L/100km
- Power and torque: 80kW, 253Nm
Toyota Prius Hybrid – R604,100
- Fuel consumption: 3.7/100km
- Power and torque: 90kW, 142Nm
Toyota RAV4 Hybrid – R663,400
- Fuel consumption: 4.8L/100km
- Power and torque: 163kW, 221Nm
Haval H6 Hybrid – R669,950
- Fuel consumption: 5.2L/100km
- Power and torque: 179kW, 530Nm
Read: Good news for South Africa’s motor industry.
