The head of BMW in South Africa says the brand is doing well despite the influx of cheap Chinese and Indian vehicles, but he voiced concern at the impact on the market for second-hand cars. Peter van Binsbergen, CEO of BMW Group South Africa, told Business Times the argument that consumers need cheap new cars “is far too single track, because it’s costing South Africa jobs in the long run, it’s costing the economy, and it’s also affecting the consumer”. “A healthy used-car market is essential to keep the whole ecosystem running,” he said.
“If you kill [it] through some very cheap imports, you might affect all the other consumers out there who can’t get rid of their cars. So, you really need to look at the unintended consequences of measures you take and think about the big picture.” The new vehicle price of some of the Chinese and Indian imports is close to the price that sellers are asking for pre-owned cars, which has forced them to cut their prices. Many South Africans are snapping up the Asian cars, as shown by figures released this week by Omoda-Jaecoo, the Chery Group brands.
They reported combined sales of 12,597 units in 2025 — a 147% increase on the previous year. You really need to look at the unintended consequences of measures you take and think about the big picture Van Binsbergen said that in the pre-owned market, buyers should look deeper than the sticker price. “Look at how the car was looked after during the ownership, parts availability and so on.” After taking everything else into account, the consumer could make a wiser price comparison.
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The Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC) has an assembly plant in Kariega and Mahindra has one in Durban. Nissan last week announced that Chery will buy its factory in Rosslyn, Pretoria. The used-car market has been thriving in recent years because of elevated prices for new cars made by the traditional brands.
Car parts maker Metair, the owner of AutoZone, recently established a standalone aftermarket parts and retail division. It says the average age of the 13-million vehicles in South Africa is getting older, as owners decide to fix the cars they already have rather than buy new ones. Last year, new vehicle registrations rose 11.9% to 612,653 from 547,581 in 2024.
In the same period the figure for used vehicles increased 1.2% from 1.72-million to 1.74-million. Van Binsbergen said BMW South Africa had had an “excellent year”, growing at 12%. Some of the BMW owners who had been tempted by the cheap imports had thought better of it and returned to the German marque, he said. “We’ve had some customers put their foot in the water, some are already coming back, [saying] ‘I want to come back to where I was.’ So, I think it’s a consumer, individual experience.”
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