Revealed: German automakers rule the coupé market in South Africa
This much has emerged from an analysis of South African digital automotive marketplace AutoTrader search data for the 2020 calendar year.
Four German companies dominate the list of the top 10 most-searched-for coupés in South Africa – namely BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche. Of these, BMW is the star performer, with an astonishing five places in the top 10.
BMW’s ‘power of attraction’
“This is a real testament to the power and attraction of the BMW brand. Its popularity is further confirmed by AutoTrader’s latest annual Car Industry Report,” noted AutoTrader CEO George Mienie.
“During the period July 2019 to June 2020, it was the most searched for brand by far, accounting for 12.2% of all brand searches and an incredible 48,9 million searches. Significantly, this represented a 137% increase over the period ending June 2019.”
Mercedes-Benz C-Class: Searches and sales
The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is both the most-searched-for and the most-sold used coupé in the country. The latter is confirmed by the Car Industry Report, which also reveals that the C-Class is the third most-searched-for individual model in South Africa (irrespective of body type) – with 2.65% of total model searches. This represents a staggering 10.7 million individual searches for the C-Class alone.
The report reveals that the C-Class also recorded the fourth most Consumer Advert Views (CAVs) and the fifth most used car sales (irrespective of body type).
Returning to the coupé market specifically, it is interesting to see that – in the top three rankings – only the C-Class performs consistently well when it comes to both used searches and sales. The number two and three positions don’t correlate. While they belong to BMW (irrespective of whether you study the search or sales statistics), the precise models differ.
According to the Car Industry Report, the BMW 2 Series and 4 Series are the second and third most sold coupés respectively (versus the 3 Series and 1 Series, which are number two and three respectively in search rankings). So, while consumers search for a 1 or 3 Series, they end up buying a 2 or 4 Series.
Top 10 most-searched-for coupés in 2020:
| Rank | Model |
| 1 | Mercedes-Benz C-Class |
| 2 | BMW 3 Series |
| 3 | BMW 1 Series |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz E-Class |
| 5 | BMW 4 Series |
| 6 | BMW 2 Series |
| 7 | Audi A5 |
| 8 | BMW M3 |
| 9 | Porsche 911 |
| 10 | BMW M4 |
Source: January to December 2020, AutoTrader
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