South Africans are paying more for cars in right now – here’s what R500,000 to R600,000 buys you

·18 Jun 2022

South Africans are paying more for used and new vehicles in 2022 than they ever have in the past four years, says Absa’s latest Vehicle and Asset Finance Consumer Insights.

The latest report written in partnership with the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) shows that the number people applying for vehicle finance has increased.

The most popular amount to finance a used vehicle is between R200,000 and R300,000.

Absa’s report noted that 18% fewer people are seeking loan amounts of between R0 and R200,000 to fund the purchase of a used vehicle compared to 2019 when 60% of all applications were sought between that range.

The lender said that for new cars, the typical application amount is between R300,000 and R600,000. It added that the R500,000 to R600,000 bracket saw the most significant growth over the past year.

Absa said that Japanese and South Korean brands dominated new sales purchases, showing a 33 percentage point increase in sales since 2019.

Consumers have not only adjusted how much they wish to spend on a car, but have also altered their brand preference, the lender said.

According to Absa, fewer people are buying European or US-branded vehicles, in favour of Japanese, South Korean, Chinese and Indian brands. This is particularly noticeable in the new segment.

“Approximately 60% of consumers financing used cars prefer Europe/USA brands, and this preference has remained mainly unchanged within this market, however within the new vehicles market, consumers are beginning to show a slightly stronger preference for Japan/South Korea brands – over 50% in 2022,” said Absa.

BusinessTech looked at some of the cars you can buy within the financing bracket of R500,000 to R600,000:

Note: Base models starting above R500,000 and under R600,000 were chosen over configurations from other brands. For example, the Toyota C-HR does not appear as its base model costs R424,800, despite its top-of-the-range version being R549,000.

Audi Q2 35TFSI – R587,300