South Africa's most affordable pre-owned EVs

Daniel Puchert

Daniel Puchert

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Most affordable used electric cars in South Africa

Chinese brands GWM and BYD have shaken up the electric vehicle (EV) market in South Africa, giving motorists in the country a lower barrier for entry to electric mobility.

This is especially true for pre-owned vehicles, as relatively new, low-mileage units sell for similar or slightly higher prices to models from prominent brands like Mini and BMW that are much older and have far higher mileage.
 
I've had a look before, and I found the low odo on the chinese 2nd hands to be weird. Should we just believe there are suddenly, out of nowhere, scores of demos available? Listing upon listing. It's so bad that you can hardly even locate proper 2nd hand listings without filtering out sub-5000km.

Honestly... It looks like a scheme to sell new for 2nd hand, and prevent other brands from selling even on the 2nd hand market. That's the most likely explanation I could come up with. A pure market penetration ploy. About the only alternative explanation I could come up with, at a stretch, is that nobody keeps them for more than a thousand or two km. And though I think this unlikely, if it does turn out to be what's happening, then it's not a good look.
 
Wouldn’t touch the Mini or the BMW. The WLTP range of 260 km is more like 200 km in real life. And at that price?! The second hand market is seriously inflated. Those cars shouldn’t be more than R150,000 considering the old platform they’re built on (no software updates or Spotify/Apple Music/etc.) and low range. I’ll take the Chinese cars any day. Their tech is also much much newer
 
Africa has become the dumping ground for 2nd hand electronics from 1st world countries.
 
UB40 said:
Africa has become the dumping ground for 2nd hand electronics from 1st world countries.
Click to expand...

You can't even blame them, there seems to be a never-ending line of consumers in SA willing to spend stupid money on cars.

In my experience, we're a society that has compartmentalized vehicle purchasing to such an extent that car manufacturers and government taxation can get away with almost anything and we'll still keep buying.

Saffas don't value cars based on the vehicle price, they value cars in terms of what they can pay per month, even if it means p*ssing away half their salaries a month on many cases.
 
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Ugly cars for electric. Wouldn't buy the Mini or Buy More Worries for a tenth of the price.
 
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