Automotive Market Research
South African automotive sits at an unusual inflection — it is a significant export manufacturing base (Mercedes, BMW, VW, Toyota, Ford, Isuzu) while domestic new-vehicle sales have been structurally under pressure from interest-rate cycles, affordability erosion, and a rapidly expanding used-vehicle market. The EV transition is lagging Europe by roughly five years, held back by charging infrastructure, grid reliability, and price-point gaps, while Chinese OEMs (Haval, Chery, GWM, BYD, MG) have moved decisively into the mainstream and now hold meaningful share. The dealer network is being rationalised, digital-retail adoption is accelerating, and in-car connectivity is emerging as a genuine purchase driver for the first time.
Why Automotive Research Matters
- The Chinese-OEM incursion (Haval, Chery, GWM, BYD, MG) has rewritten the competitive set across B, C, and SUV segments — research needs to cover brands that syndicated studies still under-represent.
- EV adoption is dependent on distinct South African variables — load-shedding, charging infrastructure, total cost of ownership including solar-charging, range anxiety on national routes — and cannot be researched using imported European consumer frameworks.
- The dealer network is being rationalised and digitised, and research into buyer expectations around hybrid online-offline journeys shapes how OEMs design customer experience.
- Used-vehicle dominance (WeBuyCars, Cars.co.za, dealer-owned certified-pre-owned programmes) means primary new-car demand research must account for cross-shopping against certified used, not just rival new models.
- Fleet and rental sales remain a structurally important channel, particularly for bakkies and entry-level passenger vehicles, and require separate qualitative research programmes from private-buyer work.
Our Automotive Research Services
New-vehicle purchase research
Consideration, shortlisting, and purchase-decision research across emerging, mainstream, and premium segments.
Product clinic and concept research
Static and dynamic product clinics, concept research, and configurator studies supporting model-launch and facelift decisions.
EV and hybrid adoption research
Behavioural and commercial research into EV adoption barriers, charging-infrastructure expectations, and total-cost-of-ownership perception.
Dealer and retail experience research
Dealer-network mystery-shopping, sales-experience research, and dealer-satisfaction programmes.
Connected car and in-vehicle experience
Research into connected-car feature preference, infotainment usability, and OTA-update acceptance.
Fleet and rental channel research
B2B research with fleet managers, rental operators, and corporate-car decision-makers.
How We Approach Research in This Sector
Automotive research has to respect the deliberation depth of the category — buyers typically research for three to six months, cross-shop across five or more models, and make decisions on both rational (TCO, fuel economy) and emotional (brand, styling) grounds. We pair quantitative purchase-funnel tracking with in-home and in-dealer qualitative work, and for EV and connectivity research we add real driving sessions (24-48 hour loaner fleets) because claimed preference for EVs is systematically higher than revealed behaviour. Fleet and rental B2B work is handled by our B2B practice, not our consumer team.
Why Choose Meraki Research for Automotive?
- We have run product clinics, brand tracking, and concept research with several major OEM clients operating in South Africa, across mainstream, premium, and emerging (Chinese OEM) segments.
- Our EV research methodology includes real-drive loaner work, charging-experience observation, and TCO-scenario modelling grounded in South African electricity pricing and load-shedding reality.
- Our B2B capability supports fleet, rental, and corporate-car buyer research with appropriate executive-level recruitment and interview discipline.
- We maintain South African automotive benchmarks for consideration, purchase intent, brand equity, and dealer satisfaction built over multiple years.
What We Deliver
| Deliverable | Format | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase-funnel tracker wave | Quarterly dashboard plus model-level diagnostics | 6 weeks per wave |
| Product clinic | Clinic report with design, feature, and pricing implications | 8-10 weeks |
| EV adoption study | Adoption-barrier report with commercial and infrastructure implications | 8-10 weeks |
| Dealer mystery shop | Scorecard across dealer estate with coaching implications | 4-6 weeks |
| Fleet/rental B2B study | Executive interview report with fleet-buyer implications | 8-10 weeks |