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Andrew Kirby, president and CEO at Toyota South Africa, delivering his annual SOMI address. Photo supplied

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Step change coming to car market

Toyota CEO Andrew Kirby’s State of the Motoring Industry address pointed the way to a changing vehicle consumer, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.

When the head of the company that dominates car sales in the country warns that consumer patterns are shifting, it is not only competitors that must pay attention. His own organisation must also take on board a new way of addressing the potential customer.

Andrew Kirby, president and CEO at Toyota South Africa, on Thursday delivered his annual State of the Motor Industry (SOMI) address to the media, with a fascinating overview of the trends that will reshape the market through the rest of this decade.

While he spoke of future “step changes” in technology, it was his current perspective of the changing consumer that provided one of the most significant insights of the event.

“One of the big changes in 2024 was consumer preferences – the preference towards the in-car experience becoming a lot more important in the buying decision,” he said. “If you look at our Lexus RX, which has all the bells and whistles, it’s really surprising to see how much of that has now trickled down to a vehicle like the Starlet.

“The infotainment system, the connectivity features, the voice activation, gesture control features, even customised lighting, has really become a key factor in customers purchasing decisions. Just to contrast, they’re not so interested in nought-to-100 anymore.

“They are interested in that experience in the car, and how they connect their smartphones and how they live from a social media point of view and connect seamlessly with the vehicle. The luxury of that experience in the car is becoming higher priority for customers, and I think it will continue in the near future as well.”

This trend would not be unfamiliar to consumers who are in the market for new cars, and whose talking points revolve largely around internal features rather than traditional “petrol-head” specs like torque, transmission and traction control. However, it is a complete mystery to the people actually selling the vehicles from the showroom floors. Few can answer questions about the infotainment system – “does it support wireless Android Auto” is the kind of question that results in eyes glazing over – but most can wax eloquent about power, payload and paddles.

This isn’t a mere rhetorical question either. The local market is now dominated by Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), which Kirby said made up more than half of passenger car sales in South Africa. As the one-time favourite, the hatchback, recedes in the rear-view mirror, a new contender looms large: new models from China that pack in the on-board technology. And they are not shy of trumpeting their tech-forward stances.

While question marks remain about reliability of after-sales service and the true nature of long-term warranties, it is no secret that brands like Chery and GWM/Haval have entered the top ten of sales charts, at the expense of the likes of European marquees like Mercedes Benz and Renault.

The onslaught is accelerating, with unfamiliar names like Jetour, Omoda and BYD potentially becoming new household names.

“If we look at the last five years, and we look at total global sales, Chinese produced vehicles made up 29% of global production sales,” said Kirby in his SOMI address. “That increased by 10.3%, and they are by far the largest supply of vehicles around the world.”

He described this as “a remarkable change in the makeup of global production and sales around the world”.

This is even without considering the steady uptake of plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles internationally.

“The majority of those are coming out of China. And not only is China dominating the total volumes, but they’re dominating this technology as well.”

South African buyers still largely steer clear of EVs, but they are not oblivious to the aggressive positioning of Chinese cars in automotive technology

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky on @art2gee.bsky.social.

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