WeBuyCars is now worth less than half what it was a year ago: About R13 billion gone

R57.93 to R26.25.

That is what one WeBuyCars share cost in July 2025 and what it cost on 9 October 2026. The company is South Africa's biggest used car buyer. In one year its market value has dropped from about R24 billion to about R11 billion.

A post on 12 October put it more sharply: "WeBuyCars just lost R12.9 billion in market value in one year." It was seen 163,800 times. The replies were full of people sure they knew why.

None of this is investment advice. It is a story about what happens when a company sells more and still loses.

Is WeBuyCars really worth R13 billion less than a year ago?

Yes, or very close. The post used R23.75 billion falling to R10.85 billion, a drop of 54.3%. We could not trace those exact figures, but the ones we can trace point the same way.

In July 2025 the market value was R24.24 billion, says Daily Investor. At R26.25 a share, we work out about R11 billion today. That is a loss of roughly R13 billion. The small gap with the post comes down to which day you measure.

The share nearly tripled in its first 15 months on the JSE. Then the slide started. A sale of R866 million of shares by founders Faan and Dirk van der Walt, announced on 2 February 2026, did not help the mood.

Did WeBuyCars actually make less money?

It sold more. It kept less. That is the whole problem.

In the six months to 31 March 2026, revenue rose 7.8% to R14.2 billion. WeBuyCars sold 93,519 cars, up 2.3%. March was a record month, with 17,209 cars sold.

Profit went the other way. The company says it had to cut its selling prices, "particularly" on stock that competes with Asian brands, to keep cars moving.

Sources: WeBuyCars results (18 May 2026) via Engineering News and Daily Investor.

Look at the cash line. A 77% drop in cash made from running the business is what rattles investors. The company also now has 20 "supermarkets" and 109 buying pods, so it is spending to grow while margins shrink.

Photo: Andres de Wet / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Why would anyone buy new when they used to buy used?

Because the price gap closed.

TopAuto reports that a brand new Chery Tiggo SUV can cost about the same as a used VW Polo. One analyst it quotes says a buyer can now get a new Chinese car where they once bought a used one. Daily Investor adds that VW and Toyota cut their own prices in response, which squeezed used cars further.

The post says people who once paid R140,000 to R180,000 for a used car now look at new Chinese models. We could not confirm the R148,000 average selling price it quotes for WeBuyCars, so treat that number as unchecked.

Bank data shows the shift. Standard Bank says 70% of young South Africans buy a used car first. But 67.9% of those buying Chinese brands buy new. Financed Chinese car purchases rose 423% between 2021 and 2025.

How big are Chinese car brands in South Africa now?

Big enough to show up on the scoreboard every month.

TransUnion data reported by Business Day put Chinese brands at 22.4% of new car sales in the second quarter of 2026. Business Day says they held about 10% in 2021. We covered the bank side of that in our look at who is financing all these Chinese cars.

Naamsa's September 2026 figures, reported by Carmag, show how it looks at street level:

• Chery Tiggo 4: 2,251 cars, the fourth best-selling passenger car in the country
• Haval Jolion: 1,351 cars
• Omoda C5: 936 cars
• Jetour T2: 757 cars

Geely does not report to naamsa, so these figures miss some Chinese sales.

Photo: JustAnotherCarDesigner / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Are people really saying WeBuyCars sells dud cars?

Some are. Under the post, one reply wondered if "the market noticed they sell dud cars at inflated prices." Another said Chinese cars are a "timebomb" and customers will run back to German and Japanese brands.

The post also mentions complaints about vehicle quality and after-sales service. We found no official complaint figures for WeBuyCars, and the company has not answered those claims in anything we saw. What is on record is the company's own explanation, which is price cuts and a "deflationary" market.

Whether Chinese cars hold up is a separate fight, and owners are split. We looked at that in why some Haval and Chery owners say their next car is a Toyota.

Photo: Turbo Time 6 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

What does this mean if you are selling or trading in a used car now?

The used market is not collapsing. It is shifting.

AutoTrader says used car sales rose 8% to 195,455 in the first half of 2026, worth R82.38 billion. That works out at about R421,000 a car. Its average asking price in June was R423,080, about 1% above June 2025.

But the mix is changing. Buyers are trading down to cheaper cars. AutoTrader's top 10 models averaged R344,354. And used Chinese car sales rose 57%, faster than the market.

Here is what the numbers suggest for you:

• Cars that compete with new Chinese models are where dealers are cutting prices
• Dealers are holding stock longer, so a first offer may be low
• Getting more than one offer on a trade-in is worth the afternoon

The banks are watching too. FirstRand CEO Mary Vilakazi said car prices have come down "structurally."

Could the cars that hurt WeBuyCars end up saving it?

That is exactly what the company is betting.

Management says the "growing penetration of Asian brands" should be positive for WeBuyCars in the medium term. Its logic is simple. Every new Chinese car sold today is a trade-in tomorrow. Its target is 23,000 cars a month by 2028, up from about 15,500.

So the cars wiping billions off its share price are the same cars it must buy, and sell, in two or three years.

WeBuyCars has staked its whole comeback on the cars that cost it R13 billion.