South Africans bought 61,890 new vehicles in October 2026, a rise of 10.4% from the same month last year. The figures come from naamsa, the Automotive Business Council.
That is 5,839 more vehicles than the 56,051 sold in October 2025. The growth came even as fuel prices climbed and households faced higher living costs.
Dealers sold 48,234 vehicles, or 78% of all local sales. The rental industry took 16.5% of sales, according to the figures. Government bought 3.3% and corporate fleets bought 2.2%.
Passenger cars led the growth. A total of 45,084 passenger vehicles were sold, up 13.6% from 39,704 a year earlier. Rental companies bought 21.4% of these cars.
Sales of light commercial vehicles, which include bakkies and minibuses, rose 2.2% to 13,689 units. Medium commercial vehicle sales fell slightly, by 0.9%, to 770 units from 777.
Heavy trucks and buses did better. Sales in this group rose 8.1% to 2,347 units, compared with 2,172 in October 2025.
Exports also picked up. South Africa shipped 38,117 vehicles in October, which is 6.3% more than a year ago. Exports rose 21.1% compared with September.
Export volumes had been falling since February 2026. The October recovery was helped by light commercial vehicles and extra heavy commercial vehicles, IOL reported.
Even so, total exports for the first ten months of 2026 were still 8.3% lower than in the same period of 2025.
Sales of new energy vehicles kept growing. From January to September 2026, buyers took 22,389 of these cars. That is already 34% more than the 16,703 sold in all of 2025.
In September, one in every nine passenger cars sold in South Africa was a new energy vehicle.
Cars that can be plugged in to charge made up 50.5% of these sales so far this year. This included 8,082 plug-in hybrids and 3,217 fully electric cars. Normal hybrids made up the other 49.5%, or 11,090 units.
The sales rise came during a month of high fuel costs. Inland 95 octane petrol reached R30.25 per litre from 7 October. It was the first time the price went above R30.
That was 12.4% higher than in September. Higher world oil prices and supply problems pushed the price up. Brent crude averaged US$101 a barrel during the review period and later rose above US$110.
Consumer inflation rose to 4.5% in September, up from 4.4% in August.
Some relief was announced in the October Medium Term Budget Policy Statement. A R10 billion temporary fuel levy relief package cuts the diesel levy by R3 per litre and the petrol levy by R1.50 per litre.
The cuts take effect on 4 November. Based on October prices, petrol would still be about 39% higher than in January 2026, IOL reported.
Source: this article is based on reporting by IOL Technology. Image: IOL Technology. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.