According to a number of recent forecasts, the South African new car market is likely to see little growth this year, with motorists increasingly shifting towards the used car market as they seek more bang for their buck.

The latest statistics from a South African online vehicle portal reflect this trend. It also reveals the segments attracting most attention from potential buyers.

“The needs of the market are fairly clear when looking at the data,” says Surf4Cars MD Charles Grassie.

“And the picture painted is one of affordability: the majority of searches are for small family hatchbacks in the entry-level price bands.”

Of all used car searches performed on Surf4Cars in the last quarter, 60% were for vehicles that cost between R150 000 and R200 000.

These are buyers who have a reasonable budget for a car, but high price inflation for new cars means that they are less likely to shop new, and are looking for better value in the pre-owned space, says Grassie.

“Naturally, buyers looking for affordable vehicles also want something that is reliable and cheap to maintain. To this end we see that there is a trend of buyers sticking to familiar, mainstream brands.”

Of the top 20 most-searched-for brands on Surf4Cars, the top three are also the three top-performing brands according to monthly sales data in the new car market.

Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford make up 44% of the top 20 searches by volume, at 22.6%, 20.9% and 10.8%, respectively.

Mainstream manufacturers show up 12 times in the top 20, and searches for these brands comprise 73% of the total.

In the model breakdown, Volkswagen’s products prove most popular with online shoppers.

The Polo, Polo Vivo, and long-discontinued CitiGolf have the lion’s share of the top 20, with a combined total of 24% of searches being for these compact hatches.

Hatchbacks make up 34% of search volumes, with buyers also looking at the Ford Fiesta, Toyota Yaris, Opel Corsa, Mini Cooper, BMW 1-series, Ford Focus, as well as more recent Volkswagen Golf models.

South African buyers are also fond of bakkies, with the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, Isuzu KB, and Corsa Utility all featuring in the top 20.