Mobility is defined as the ability to move, therefore within this BAV Brandscape, Mobility Brands include the automobile, airline, public transport (bus, train, and taxi), and e-hailing sectors as well as those who help them move, such as petroleum and lubricants.

SA Top 20 Mobility Brandscape

Quality credentials

Aspiration and identity come firmly into place South Africans rank their Top 20 Brands to move around in and with.

While Mercedes-Benz holds the top spot for the second year running, it’s worth noting it holds it purely because of its quality credentials.

Ninety-nine percent (99% )of South African respondents see Merc as the most esteemed mobility brand followed by Land Rover, VW and Emirates.

Relying on quality credentials can serve a brand’s present value but puts its future value at risk as innovation is the name of the game here.

Brands with a high future value

When considering brands with a high future value (i.e South Africans feel it will do well in the country for many years to come), the mobility picture looks a little different when they are sized up along the various other brand attributes.

Interestingly, South Africans found Tesla (a brand not operational in the country) as the most differentiated brand not only in mobility but across the entire Brandscape consisting of 1,600 brands measured.

This is because of local perceptions that Tesla is unique, innovative, visionary and committed to the environment.

Engen: most relevant mobility brand

Another surprise is petroleum brand, Engen, which came in as the most relevant mobility brand.

South Africans love its friendliness, reliability, high performance and commitment to environment and equality – the latter being in line with the overall insight of homegrown brands’ strength in Part 1 of this series.

Public transport: rugged, unapproachable and arrogant

On the other hand, Mobility brands do not need to fear public transport. Santaco (taxi Industry) came in 51ST and Putco buses at 53RD with South Africans being indifferent about these modes of transport. P

oor Putco and the taxi industry carry the perceptions of being rugged, unapproachable and arrogant. Despite these perceptions, millions of South Africans use these modes out of necessity every day even if they are not high quality, trendy or stylish.

Unpacking dominant mobility categories

• Motor vehicles
  

  Rank
  1	Mercedes- Benz
  2	Land Rover
  3	VW
  4	BMW
  5	Range Rover
  6	Audi
  7	Ford
  8	Toyota
  9	Volvo
  10	Jaguar
  11	Jeep
  12	Tesla
  13	Hyundai
  14	Isuzu
  15	Nissan
  16	Kia
  17	Mazda
  18	Renault
  19	Suzuki
  20	Haval

  In a country where formal public transport is lacking, it makes sense that motoring brands would dominate. After all, South Africa is the largest passenger vehicle market on the continent with roughly 12 million vehicles on our roads.

  Brands topping the Motoring Brandscape in 2024 carry their brand strength owing to their high performance, dynamism and their sense of prestige.

  As one moves down the list of brand strengths, reliability is the most valued. Simplicity creeps in at the bottom of the list, with the likes of Haval and Suzuki and this has been coupled to grow in popularity among South Africans.

  As BAV continues to measure in 2025, the automobile category may have a few shifts as a result.

• Air mobility
  

  Rank
  1	Emirates
  2	FlySafair
  3	SAA
  4	SA Airlink
  5	British Airways
  6	SA Express
  7	United Airlines
  8	Ethiopian Airline
  9	Lift Airlines

  As we turn to the skies, Emirates beats the national carrier in the Brand Equity wars. Beyond the possibility, it has something to do with Emirates carrying our national teams, South Africans see their #1 Airline as being in line with the automobile traits – prestige and upper class.

  While SAA comes in third within the aviation category, it must be noted that SAA’s brand equity has vastly improved year on year. In 2023 SAA was the 442nd strongest brand in South Africa and in 2024 it’s the 351st strongest brand.

  SAA’s brand turnaround includes:

  • 9% increase in Future Value, owing to its increased relevance, showing South Africans are starting to believe in it again.
  • 13% Present Value, owing to its 16% increase in quality perceptions and 5% increase in brand awareness, showing South Africans are increasingly using the airline feeling its accessibility and dependability.

  Mimicking the automobile category once again, South Africans are valuing the simplicity of the likes of Lift and Ethiopian, signalling a gain in popularity which leaders should keep an eye on in their rear-view mirrors.

One thing is for sure, South Africans get around and it’s our right to do so. While South Africans do so, whether on land or in the skies they aspire to prestige and upper class to drive their social currency and credibility.

When they not doing it for those reasons, they opt for reliable, friendly and simple brands. These strong attributes could very well change the overall South African Mobility Brandscape in 2025.

About BAV

WPP backs BAV. It measures brands in the broader brandscape of people’s minds – it shows where a brand sits in the collective culture, rather than limiting the study to how a brand is perceived versus its direct competitors.

BAV has over 20 years of data on the SA Brandscape and its partnership with academics like the University of Oxford, London Business School, Wharton, and Berkeley Haas (to name a few).

The South Africa Speaks series is named due to the demographic accuracy of BAV’s research across provinces, languages, genders and generations.

This is the last in the South Africa Speaks series of three articles.