Indian-built cars lead under-R300k segment in 2023, and have the best resale value – Lightstone

Vehicles manufactured in India accounted for 70% of the 108 000 light vehicles under R300 000 sold in South Africa in 2023 through the dealer network, says market intelligence group Lightstone.

The light-vehicle market, which includes passenger and light commercial vehicles, was dominated by the hatchback, but also included small sedans, sub-one-tonne and one-tonne bakkies (single-cabs), panel vans, multipurpose vehicles and crossover/sports-utility vehicles.

Suzuki made up 43% of those Indian imports, followed by Renault (19%) and Toyota (17%).

South African-built vehicles accounted for 23% of the sub-R300 000 sales basket (Volkswagen and Nissan), with the balance of the vehicles coming from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, France and Poland.

Lightstone reports that vehicles from India are also expected to retain a significant percentage of their value at two years old.

The research group used its residual value forecasting tool to gauge how much of the original suggested retail price can be expected to be recuperated when or if one of these vehicles were to be resold in 2025.

Here the Indian-built vehicles once again come out on top in comparison with its competitors, with an expected retention rate of 86%.

This means that if a new vehicle cost R200 000 in 2023, one could expect it to retail for R172 000 in 2025, given average mileage/condition.

This is only marginally ahead of locally manufactured vehicles, which have a retention rate of 85.8%.

For some of the other countries contributing to this basket of vehicles (remembering that they only comprised a combined 7% of the market), Chinese-built vehicles are expected to retain 83.9% of their value, while South Korean-made vehicles are at 83.6%.