The one segment in South Africa where Chinese cars don’t dominate

The one segment in South Africa where Chinese cars do not outsell their European rivals is the category of electric vehicles (EV).

When it comes to petrol and diesel autos, brands like Chery and GWM have been known to outperform their more well-established rivals in recent times owing to their superior perceived value for money.

However, as EVs are generally considered premium purchases that only the wealthy can afford, this trend hasn’t particularly transferred to this specific segment.

Its generally assumed that people with the means to afford a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz will pick it over a Chinese competitor nine times out of ten given the status and history that goes along with these badges.

When looking at the EV sector, it appears that this assumption rings true.

Consider used-car platform AutoTrader’s top 10 best-selling EVs for 2024:

There are several Chinese EVs with similar specs and silhouettes to the cars above you can buy brand new in South Africa for less than the average price of most of these top sellers.

For instance, the BYD Atto 3 and Dolphin; as well as the GWM Ora 03 all go for between R539,900 and R835,950.

These models were available to the same EV customers in 2024 with full warranties, fresh powertrains, and that coveted new-car smell – but the vast majority of buyers still decided to go German or Scandinavian instead, suggesting brand preference remains a key priority for the upper caste of society.

In fact, AutoTrader highlighted that the GWM Ora 03 was the most-listed EV on the platform for the entirety of the year, as well as one of the most wallet-friendly, but it still didn’t make it into the top 10 performers.

Granted, the Volvo EX30 was built in deep collaboration with Chinese company Geely, but for all intents and purposes, it’s still marketed and sold as a Swedish machine.

Let’s turn our attention to the new market, then, and see where things stand.

The 10 EV best-sellers throughout 2024, according to Business Day, were:

What the owners paid for these vehicles is difficult to determine as new-car prices tend to fluctuate during the year, so the person who bought their EX30 in April may have paid less than the one who got theirs in November.

However, the GWM Ora 03 was undoubtedly the cheapest model among them back then as it still is today.

Despite this, it is the only Chinese EV on the list with Sweden and Germany occupying the rest of the open spots.

Times could change

While Chinese EVs may not be as in-demand right now as their fossil fuel-burning counterparts, it’s highly unlikely this trend will continue indefinitely.

The selection of China-made EVs is still rather limited at this point in time and the badges on their noses are mostly unknown.

When I drove the Ora, very few people knew it was actually a GWM, and I speculate that the little hatch would’ve performed much better in showrooms had it been wearing a GWM or a Haval badge from the very start.

GWM is also aware of this probability.

At its “Brand Renewal Conference” last year, GWM said that at the heart of its new “Go With More” strategy is a “decision to follow the global brand direction, which sees the GWM brand taking the lead, with its brands Haval, Ora, P-Series, and Tank each serving its customer base under the global GWM brand.”

“As part of the Brand Renewal Strategy, GWM has developed a new corporate identity that highlights the GWM main brand alongside its sub-brands.”

In plain English, the manufacturer is now putting GWM badges on all its new cars regardless of whether they’re advertised as a Haval, Ora, P-Series, or Tank, as it believes this will make them sell better.

In a similar vein, while BYD is now a well-known Chinese automaker in Europe and other parts of Asia, its South African footprint, and by extension, familiarity, is limited, which severely impacts the sales potential of its competitively priced EVs.

The small assortment of Chinese EVs in South Africa will soon be expanded, though.

BYD is set to bring the Dolphin Mini to our roads by the end of 2025 which is a compact electric hatch that is expected to sell for around R350,000.

The BYD Sealion 7, an emission-free SUV, will also be introduced in the not-so-distant future.

Meanwhile, Chery sub-brand Jaecoo is set to launch the new J6 in the country before the end of the year, a fully electric off-roader that will rival the likes of the Toyota Prado and Land Rover Defender.

Another Chery sub-brand, Omoda, also confirmed that it’s planning on rolling out the E5 in South Africa, which is a battery-powered version of the popular C5 already on sale here.

However, the E5 was meant to reach the roads in 2024 already but it appears that its introduction was quietly delayed. As of March 2025, it’s still not on sale, and there has been no word from Chery on when the E5 will now make its debut.

An entirely new name, Dongfeng, is furthermore set to open its doors in South Africa in early 2025.

It’s bringing over an EV hatchback similar in size to the VW Polo with a top speed of 140km/h and a maximum range of around 430km.

Additionally, Geely is making a comeback to South Africa after exiting the market around a decade ago, and its first product is expected to be the all-electric EX5 SUV.

There has also been rumours that Leapmotor International is priming itself for a South African introduction sometime in 2025.

Leapmotor International is a joint venture between Stellantis – one of the world’s biggest manufacturers with brands such as Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Maserati under its umbrella – and China’s Leapmotor.

The company focuses exclusively on EVs and currently has two cars in its portfolio comprising the T03 hatchback and C10 SUV.

Chinese EVs are now also being listed by dealers at extremely aggressive discounts to get them moving off showroom floors.

For example, you can get a 2025 Ora 03 300 Super Luxury for R499,950 right now from Rola Haval Stellenbosch, reflecting a discount of R187,000 from its recommended retail price of R686,950.

The discounts pull these Chinese EVs away from the aspirational end of the market and push them more into the attainable portion.

As a wider variety of EVs from the People’s Republic steadily become available in South Africa, and those already on sale become more reasonably priced, it seems all but guaranteed that they will start rivaling the sales figures of their European peers sooner rather than later.