Prosus-owned AutoTrader.co.za released annual car industry report with statistics about user base, advert views and average year model of sold cars as well as market trends.
Available on its website, the annual report presents facts of 2024 and according to which AutoTrader SA had more than 40 million users; more than 950 million web pages were opened; users conducted 663 million searches; there were 391 million consumer advert views; users spent average 4 minutes and two seconds on the site with more than 129 million sessions and the average year model of sold cars was 2019.
As consumers are shifting towards more affordable Chinese brands, Auto Trader guides car dealerships through data analysis to ensure market relevancy, make them cognizant of trends and optimize strategies.
For car buyers, AutoTrader has developed conversion funnel to highlight consumer interest in searches, tracking consumer intent and understating inquiry following an avert view.
“Chinese brands also dominated advert views (up 88%) and enquiries (up 183%), indicating strong consumer intent. These trends are unusually high for new entrants,” noted the auto marketplace in the report.
“Despite the increase in sales of Chinese brands, view performance shows that South Africa still researches and compares with historically popular brands and models.”
In 2024, the number of searches represented 42% growth year over year, while advert views increased 28%, “marking the most significant increase in consumer views in AutoTrader’s 33-year long history,” it added.
South Africa is predominantly a new vehicle market as 515,712 vehicles were sold in the country during the year, compared to 358,431 used passenger cars sold.
AutoTrader.co.za says it has the largest number of cars listed on its marketplace at any given time. It also reported increase in EV advert views during the last year with the number of listings of EVs having reached the highest-ever 1,589.
Source: AutoTrader.co.za
“AutoTrader advocates for dealers to embrace a different approach in 2025, being cognisant of new car-buying trends,” advised CEO George Mienie.
AutoTrader.co.za, founded in 1992, is a marketplace for connecting car buyers and sellers by bridging the gap between online and offline transactions.
Prosus also owns real estate marketplace Property24.com in South Africa and other marketplaces in Europe and Brazil.
