Every year, as South Africa’s car sales grow, so does the population of vehicles on our roads.
By the end of last year, the population of motorised vehicles stood at over 12 million, with 66% of these made up by passenger vehicles.
Nearly 1.3 million of the vehicles on South Africa’s roads are towed, which includes caravans and trailers, boosting the overall population to just under 14 million.
The number of registered vehicles increased by 297,740 (2.24%) from 13,315,711 in September 2024 to 13,613,451 vehicles in September 2025.
Last year also marked a major milestone for passenger vehicles in particular, as their overall population crossed the 8 million mark for the very first time.
The passenger vehicle population grew by 2.77%, or 219,373, during the period.
Bakkies are the second-most common vehicle on South Africa’s roads, despite being the most popular when it comes to sales.
Last year saw the population of bakkies on our roads grow by 44,501, or 1.63%, to reach a total of 2,769,166.
Bakkies, therefore, make up 22.44% of motorised vehicles in South Africa.
Heavy vehicles like buses and trucks saw marginal growth over the same period last year, recording a growth of 1.64% and 1.34% respectively.
The vehicle class with the most growth was, interestingly, motorcycles, which saw a growth of nearly 4% between September 2024 and 2025.
South Africa’s motorcycle population grew from 355,351 to 369,286, and now makes up 3% of South Africa’s total vehicle population.
The only class of vehicle that saw a reduction in its population last year was minibuses.
By the end of 2025, there were 1,695 fewer of these on our roads, marking a slight decline of half a per cent.
What makes this notable is that motorcycles now outnumber minibuses in South Africa – a country that is heavily reliant on public transport.
5 million cars in one province
While the national vehicle population does paint an interesting picture of mobility preference in South Africa, it also breaks down where to find these vehicles.
Unsurprisingly, South Africa’s most populous province is home to a large portion of its vehicles.
Gauteng’s approximate population of 16 million people represents around a quarter of the country’s over 60 million people.
With that said, there are 5,242,216 registered vehicles in the province, which constitutes 38.51% of the country’s total vehicle population.
Since the previous measurement, 124,891 new vehicles joined the population in Gauteng, marking an increase of 2.44%.
Residents of the Western Cape boast the second-highest number of cars on the road, with 2,235,587 registered vehicles, not even half the population in Gauteng.
In third place for vehicle population is South Africa’s second-most populous province, KwaZulu-Natal, whose 13 million people own 1,852,234 registered vehicles.
It was, however, the province that saw the highest percentage of cars registered over the 2024/25 period, as its population grew by 3.21%.
These three provinces combined make up a staggering 68.54% of South Africa’s total vehicle population.
Much of that can be attributed to their higher populations, but also to the economic power of residents in these three provinces.
Unsurprisingly, the Northern Cape, with South Africa’s lowest population representation of around 2.2%, is also home to 2.2% of the registered vehicles on the road.
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