Stuurwiel is a new car trading platform and the first fully Afrikaans option in the space, offering South Africans an alternative to English-based car traders.
The new platform, developed by the team behind ChangeCars, is intended to answer the growing demand for sites that cater to languages other than English.
Roughly 10.6% of the South African population speaks Afrikaans as a first language, with 76% having internet access and a growing number being digitally active on social media, apps, and other online platforms.
Therefore, the need for fully Afrikaans sites to cater to these South Africans has never been more apparent.
“Stuurwiel is our answer to that need,” says Michael Pashut, Founder and CEO of ChangeCars and Stuurwiel.
“It’s a full platform created with the Afrikaans community in mind, from how it looks and feels to how it speaks.”
Every aspect of the site has been designed with the Afrikaans community in mind, from its terminology and tone to its visuals and navigation.
This also means the Afrikaans used on the new site is free of any slang or borrowed words, both ensuring that readers feel at home while using Stuurwiel and proving that the language can handle every aspect of the online car trade.
Stuurwiel was also developed in partnership with Elemental, a Cape Town-based software and digital agency known for working with industry leaders.
“This was a passion project for us,” says Angelo Zanetti, Co-founder and CEO of Elemental.
“We always say tech should work for people. Not the other way around. Stuurwiel is an example of where tech meets people where they are, with no shortcuts taken. It’s built to be proudly Afrikaans from the ground up.”
While Stuurwiel targets the Afrikaans community, Pashut and his team’s long-term goal is to expand and include other communities.
Their desire to ensure that everyone will have a chance to use a site tailored to their language preferences.
Industry impact
The current online car trading industry in South Africa is dominated by AutoTrader, which has the country’s largest automotive marketplace.
This marketplace gets over 11 million monthly visits, with many of South Africa’s top dealerships advertising on the site.
Since AutoTrader is an English-based platform, Stuurwiel’s arrival could potentially disrupt the market and pull Afrikaans car shoppers away from the industry giant.
Given the proportion of Afrikaans speakers in the South African population, Stuurwiel has the potential to secure a fairly large audience.
This could lead to it becoming a smaller but effective alternative to AutoTrader for South Africans looking for deals online.
Stuurwiel
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