{"id":873158,"date":"2026-09-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=873158"},"modified":"2026-09-01T17:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:58:46","slug":"big-shift-happening-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/873158\/big-shift-happening-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Big shift happening in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In July 2026, over 3,000 New Electric Vehicles (NEVs) were sold in South Africa, more than doubling their sales in July 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEVs refer to any vehicle that is fully or partially powered by alternative energy, with the common examples being fully electric vehicles or hybrids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies such as BYD, a Chinese NEV manufacturer, have recently taken South Africa’s vehicle industry by storm, offering affordable electric and hybrid vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These vehicles often offer buyers lower transport costs than traditional petrol or diesel cars, particularly amid current oil price volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the start of 2026, South Africans have purchased approximately 16,200 NEVs, split between hybrids and fully electric vehicles, 88% more than in the same period in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year-to-date, over 8,000 hybrid electric vehicles have been sold in the country, where the vehicle features both a traditional combustion engine and battery power capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5,851 plug-in hybrid vehicles, which are similar to other hybrids but have a dedicated charging port and a larger battery, have been sold since the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fully electric vehicles are the smallest portion of NEVs purchased in South Africa, with 2,360 being sold this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) said the number of NEVs sold shows growing consumer choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“plug-in vehicles accounted for 54,4% of NEV sales during July, overtaking traditional hybrids and signalling a deepening of South Africa’s electrification transition,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Electrified commercial vehicles are also beginning to emerge across light, medium and extra-heavy applications, extending the transition beyond the passenger vehicle market.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial electric vehicles have been slowly adopted in South Africa, but many companies cannot switch to them due to a lack of infrastructure in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial vehicles, such as trucks, often have to travel long distances from urban areas where vehicle charging points are common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vehicle sales are going up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Total new vehicle sales in South Africa reached close to 58,000 units in August, an 11.4% year-on-year increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While local demand was strong, the country’s vehicle exports declined by 11.9% year-on-year in August, bringing concern for the country’s vehicle manufacturing industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAAMSA said this statistic reinforces “the need to strengthen industrial competitiveness and translate improving domestic demand into local production, localisation, investment and employment.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the 58,000 new vehicles sold in August, approximately 41,200 were passenger vehicles, and 13,700 were light commercial vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NAAMSA said the current economic conditions in South Africa were supportive of people who wanted to purchase new cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The macroeconomic environment provided a more supportive backdrop for new vehicle demand during August 2026, although the benefits were unevenly distributed between private motorists and commercial operators,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group noted that the inflation rate had eased between July and August, from 5% to 4.3%, lessening pressure on household spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also said the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) decision to hold interest rates at its last monetary policy committee meeting was a factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said the interest rate hold “provided greater stability in the affordability environment facing households and prospective vehicle buyers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The combination of moderating inflation and stable interest rates, therefore, provided some relief to consumers navigating still-elevated living and borrowing costs.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The August market performance suggests that greater economic stability, improving product choice, and more predictable financing conditions are helping to support vehicle demand.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s high inflation rates have largely been attributed to fluctuating global oil prices, driven by the ongoing war in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This war has led to oil prices spiking to over $100 per barrel, resulting in higher fuel prices for consumers and higher operating costs for many businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Reserve Bank has said that it intends to begin an interest-rate cutting cycle in 2027, with the start of this plan being dependent on trends in the global oil market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Electric Vehicle sales have risen by over 88% year-on-year, split between hybrid and fully electric models.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":873207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2095014116578496879","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2193499721470427","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18061562453787685","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[18091,10421,26371],"class_list":["post-873158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-byd","tag-naamsa","tag-nev"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873158"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873208,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873158\/revisions\/873208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}