The car brand that gets 3 searches every second in South Africa

VW was the most-searched brand on used-car platform AutoTrader in 2024, seeing a whopping 81,053,923 searches throughout the year.

This equates to an astounding 2.6 searches every single second over the entire 12 months.

The jump to the top was driven by a 74% increase in consumers looking at the VW Polo Vivo.

In second was BMW with a still-incredible 79,299,132 searches (2.5/second), and in third was Toyota with 71,047,526 (2.2/second).

In total, over 663 million searches were conducted on AutoTrader last year, reflecting a 42% increase from the year prior.

This equates to more than 21 consumer searches across all brands and models every second.

According to AutoTrader CEO George Mienie, searches is an accurate reflection of consumer interest in various vehicles and serves as a barometer for brand and model popularity.

Interestingly, the top 10 most-searched brands make up less than 5% of all available market options, but generated 66% of all searches.

As per the AutoTrader Annual Car Industry Report 2024, the top 10 most-searched brands in South Africa’s used-car market in 2024 were:

Most-searched model

The Toyota Hilux continues to be the most searched-for model, seeing an aggregate 12,371,080 searches in 2024.

The evergreen bakkie was followed by the VW Polo closely behind at 11,305,009 searches.

South Africa’s 2023 Car of the Year, the Ford Ranger, rounded out the top three most searched-for models with a tally of 9,366,333.

The top 10 most-searched vehicle models in South Africa’s used-car market in 2024, as per AutoTrader, were:

Most-searched variants

The VW Golf GTI remained the most-searched vehicle variant in 2024 with 6,685,962 lookups to its name.

In fact, VW took home the first four positions with its Golf R in second, Polo GTI in third, and Polo 1.0 TSI in fourth.

Together, these four hatchbacks accounted for a massive 22,063,994 searches.

Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz and BMW both had two entries in the top 10 variants list.

For Mercedes, these were the AMG C63 (2,644,616 searches) and C200 (1,976,803); and for BMW, they were the 320d (2,482,722) and 320i (1,872,973).

The final two spots were occupied by the Toyota Hilux 2.8GD-6 with 3,576,392 searches, and the Ford Ranger Wildtrak with 3,484,819.

The top 10 most-searched vehicle variants in South Africa’s used-car market in 2024, as per AutoTrader, were:

Increased attention on Chinese brands

As in the new market, the used sector is seeing a rise in attention on Chinese autos.

Chinese vehicle searches surged by 112% in 2024, led by brands like Omoda, which saw a 197% increase in interest.

This growth is particularly remarkable, considering overall searches for Chinese brands only rose by 42%.

Chinese brands also dominated advert views (up 88%) and enquiries (up 183%), indicating strong consumer intent.

“These trends are unusually high for new entrants, akin to the launch of new tech like electric vehicles,” said Mienie.

“Again, curbing the average advert view growth of 29% across all brands with enquiries achieving an annual growth of 73%.”

The higher levels of searches and enquiries indeed translated into more sales for Chinese cars.

While overall used-car transactions decreased by 2% over the year, Chinese brands saw a 92% increase, albeit from a smaller base.

The table below details the searches, advert views, enquiries, and sales of Chinese badges on AutoTrader in 2024, in comparison to 2023: