2025 car trends

2025 Car Trends: New Cars, New Brands, New Prices

New brands, New tech and New prices

New brands, new tech and new prices reshaped the car world in 2025, both locally and globally. EVs are going mainstream, Chinese brands are everywhere, and price tags are going the same way as toothpaste, property prices, petrol, groceries and just about everything else.

What’s Changed on Mzansi Roads in 2025

New-car sales pulled a bit of a Verstappen-like comeback.

After a few tough years, SA’s new-vehicle market, properly hit the rev limiter regularly. Like Super Max or “that Dutch oke” depending on your opinion of him, car sales bounced back big time. By October of this year, aggregate new-vehicle sales were about 15.7% higher than the same period in 2024, with October itself the strongest month since March 2015.

So, people are buying new cars again, especially SUVs, bakkies, hatchbacks and compact crossovers. The era of the traditional “family sedan” seems to be nearing an end. For example, Ford doesn’t offer any 4-door sedans - only bakkies, SUVs and the Ford Mustang if you reckon you’re still a bit of a Steve McQueen, despite a successful career as an auditor.

Prices have stabilised but cars are still ridiculously expensive.

A fairly moderate car these days costs about the same as a fairly decent apartment would have set you back a few years ago, but mercifully car prices have tapped off the accelerator pedal slightly in 2025.

New vehicle price inflation slowed to around 1.7% year-on-year in Q4 2024, the lowest level in about three years, according to TransUnion’s Vehicle Pricing Index.

The bad news: We’re cooling off from a high base. Translation from Financialese: The prices were outrageous, and they still are but aren’t getting even more outrageous.

Years of above-inflation increases mean both new and used cars are now firmly “big-ticket” items.

Translation from Financialese: Cars in SA are a luxury -and a necessity- and we have to just deal with it.

Even if prices aren’t rocketing like they did after COVID and the chip shortage, they’re still high enough that every rand on repayments (and car insurance) matters.

Translation from Financialese: There was a shortage of computer chips for cars, but there isn’t anymore, so prices have calmed down slightly.

Buyers are chasing value so used car sales boomed in 2025.

Cars are depreciating assets, unless you smoke a briar pipe and collect classics, which isn’t many of us. As soon as you drive it off the showroom floor it starts losing money. So a lot of sensible people are “buying pre-owned”, and the 2025 stats back that up.

• As early as March 2025, the value of used cars sold hit about R12.48 billion, up around 10.9% in comparison to previous years.

• According to AutoTrader the average used car cost just over R417 000.

By late 2025, dealerships were reporting strong growth in used-car volumes, with demand skewing towards:

• Smaller, more fuel-efficient hatchbacks

• Compact crossovers and SUVs

• Well-specced, “value” bakkies

In Mzansi we love our cars, but like a great deal just as much. Using Hippo gets you the best deal by comparing car insurance quotes side-by-side from top companies. It’s like doing 12 test drives at the same time to find the best quote in a few minutes.

Chinese brands are no longer a maybe – they’re everywhere.

Chinese brands have moved up the grid of consumer consideration drastically. From being vague pretenders to the throne of traditional brands they’re now on our roads and centrepieces of braai conversations about why they make sense to buy.

Brands like Chery, Omoda & Jaecoo, Jetour and Foton all hit record monthly sales in August 2025.

Across the first half of 2025, sales of Chinese vehicles in SA jumped about 89% year-on-year, according to Autotrader data.

They’re winning because they offer:

• Aggressive pricing

• Lots of tech and safety kit out the box

• Long warranties that calm “new brand” nerves

The cars aren’t just everywhere, the dealerships are also springing up as the brands aggressively expand their national footprint. From GWM/Haval through to newer arrivals like BYD , it’s getting easier to buy and service these cars across the country.

The Usual Suspects still top the charts

Even with all the new metal on the scene, the top of the sales charts still looks familiar. Through 2025, Toyota, Suzuki, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Ford consistently occupy the top spots in monthly NAAMSA reports – with GWM often sitting in sixth place - but growing fast.

So the “optics” on SA roads is now a mix of:

• Traditional favourites: Hilux, Ranger, Polo Vivo, Swift, Corolla Cross, etc.

• A fast-growing wave of Chinese SUVs, bakkies and crossovers

• A slow-but-steady trickle of hybrids and EVs at the top end

The EV is a slight failure to launch in SA. If you think you’re going “earth first” and are light on the pedal with your Birkenstocks, you’re still burning the diesel and coal which creates our electricity in SA, so it’s a strange conundrum to be in.

EV policy is racing ahead of most wallets

On paper, South Africa is getting serious about electric and new-energy vehicles:

The SA government has an EV White Paper that sets out a transition to a mix of EV and ICE (a “normal” car that runs on petrol or diesel) production by 2035.

From 1 March 2026, manufacturers investing in EV or hydrogen-vehicle production assets can claim a 150% tax deduction on qualifying investments , to stimulate local production.

But for the average buyer in 2025, EVs are still pricey:

Imported EVs typically face a 25% import duty, versus about 18% for many conventional imports, plus ad valorem taxes.

Result: most Mzansi buyers are still choosing:

• Petrol or diesel

• Hybrids and mild-hybrids, if the price is right.

• A few full EVs in the premium and early-adopter space

The One Whats's Changed Globally in 2025

Electric car sales topped about 17 million worldwide in 2024, which is over one in five new cars and kept rising in 2025, according to the IEA Global EV Outlook 2025.

EVs still cost more than petrol and diesel cars, and affordability is the top concern in Deloitte’s 2025 Global Automotive Consumer Study.

From 2020 to 2025, average vehicle prices are up about 26%, driven by raw materials, labour and tech, says S&P Global in its piece on forecasting car price trends in volatile markets.

China has overtaken Japan as the world’s largest car exporter, flooding markets with competitively priced vehicles, according to Reuters’ coverage of China’s auto exports .

The One Thing That Hasn’t Changed: You Still Need Car Insurance

Put all of this together and you get a few simple truths:

• Cars are more complex than ever.

• They cost more to buy than they did a few years ago.

• They cost more to repair when something goes wrong.

Whether you’re:

• Sticking with a trusty Hilux, Polo Vivo or Swift,

• Trading into a value-packed Chinese SUV, or

• Joining the early-adopter crew in an EV or hybrid, your car insurance debit order is still very much a thing.

The difference is: that’s one debit order you can actually do something about.

On average:

• Comparing car insurance quotes on Hippo saves drivers around R539 per month* on car insurance alone, and

• around R1 208 per month* when they compare multiple products together.

If you’re going to upgrade your car to match the times, it’s worth checking out the best insurance cover too. A few minutes on Hippo comparing quotes side-by-side can help you make sure you’re getting the best cover for your wallet and your new car.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, medical or insurance advice. Hippo is a comparison site helping you evaluate quotes from trusted South African insurers. Always review policy details before making changes. Quotes are risk profile dependent and subject to annual review. No fees are charged for using Hippo’s comparison service. HAS (Pty) Ltd and HCS (Pty) Ltd are authorised FSPs. Terms and conditions apply.