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# Petrol passed R30 a litre in October, and South Africans still bought 10% more new vehicles
- URL: https://www.businessbagel.com/petrol-passed-r30-a-litre-in-october-and-south-africans-still-bought-10-more-new-vehicles/
- Published: 2026-11-05T03:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-05T02:59:59.000Z
- Description: New-vehicle sales grew by a tenth in October even as petrol crossed R30 a litre, with car-hire fleets doing a share of the buying and fuel-levy relief only arriving today.
- Author: Christian Maidman
- Tags: Economy, Business Bagel News

A litre of inland petrol cost more than R30 for the first time in October, and the showrooms barely noticed. The industry body naamsa counted 61,890 new vehicles sold locally in the month, 10.4% more than a year earlier, which leaves the year so far 12.3% ahead.

Passenger cars did most of the lifting. Their sales climbed 13.6% to 45,084, while bakkies and minibuses managed just 2.2%. Heavy trucks and buses rose 8.1%, but medium trucks slipped.

Exports surprised on the upside. Manufacturers shipped 38,117 vehicles abroad, 21.1% more than in September and 6.3% more than a year ago. Even so, exports for the first ten months are still 8.3% behind last year.

## Who was actually buying

Not every new car went home with a family. Car-hire companies bought 21.4% of the month's new passenger cars. Across the whole market, bakkies and trucks included, they took about one vehicle in six, while dealers sold close to four in five and the government bought a small sliver. Those are fleet purchases, so part of October's total is rental companies stocking up rather than households choosing a car.

Under the totals, the kind of car is changing as well. In the first nine months of the year South Africans bought 22,389 new-energy vehicles, a group that covers hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric cars, which is already 34% more than in the whole of 2025\. In September, one new car in every nine was one of them. Plug-in hybrids, which charge from a socket but keep a petrol engine as backup, now outsell fully electric cars by about two and a half to one. Fully electric cars are still less than 1% of the roughly 490,000 new vehicles sold in those nine months.

## The R1.50 that arrives today

The petrol price that crossed R30 had jumped 12.4% in a single month, on higher oil prices and supply disruptions. From today the fuel levy drops by R1.50 a litre on petrol and R3 on diesel, part of a temporary relief package announced in the 21 October medium-term budget.

The industry body's own sums say that will not undo the damage. At October's prices, petrol would still cost about 39% more than in January, and diesel 57% to 61% more. Diesel gets the bigger cut and stays the bigger problem.