The average prices of pre-owned SUVs steadily decreased in South Africa over the second quarter of 2024, whereas prices for used hatchbacks and crossovers rose at the same time.
Credit agency TransUnion’s latest Vehicle Pricing Index showed that the prices of one-year-old used SUVs dropped by an average of 0.5% between April and June 2024, whereas prices of two-year-old used SUVs saw a dip of 0.1%.
Simultaneously, one-year-old Premium SUVs got 1.0% cheaper, two-year-old models 1.3%, and three-year-old models 0.3%.
The only category that bucked this trend was three-year-old SUVs, which saw a marginal 1.0% increase in price.
Meanwhile, crossovers, hatchbacks, and premium hatchbacks – the only other variants of passenger cars that enjoy substantial demand on the pre-owned market – saw an increase in price of anywhere between 1.5% and 6.3%, depending on their body style and age.
The graph below, as provided by TransUnion, details the average price increases of used passenger vehicles per body type in Q2 2024:
What South Africans are buying
Used-car platform AutoTrader’s recent mid-year industry report showed that SUVs were among the most popular silhouettes on the pre-owned market in the first half of 2024.
For the six months ended June, AutoTrader recorded a massive 172,6678 used passenger-car sales with SUVs accounting for a significant portion thereof.
The three top performers over this period were as follows:
- Toyota Fortuner – 4,141 units sold
- Ford EcoSport – 2,280 units sold
- VW T-Cross – 1,871 units sold
The average price of a pre-owned SUV between January and June 2024 worked out to R499,118, with the average mileage coming in at 66,443km and the average registration year at 2019.
“Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) have maintained their position as the fastest-growing body type on a global scale, and this trend held true in South Africa during the first half of 2024,” said AutoTrader.
In a climate of downscaling and rationalising one’s assets to make ends meet, SUVs have emerged as the body type of choice for most consumers as they ostensibly offer the best of both worlds – that being the practicality of a family sedan combined with the versatility of something like a bakkie.
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