South Africa Tire Market Size, CAGR & Forecast, 2025-2035

Imports now supply most South African tire demand while three local plants fight for volume

Valued at USD 1.74 Billion in 2025, the South Africa tire market reaches USD 1.80 Billion in 2026 and USD 2.48 Billion by 2035, a 3.62% CAGR. Radial Insights measures the value at end-user prices excluding VAT, covering new pneumatic tires sold in South Africa plus tires made there and shipped to other markets.

The scope includes passenger car, light commercial vehicle (bakkie), truck and bus, two-wheeler and off-the-road tires, sold through OEM fitment and the replacement trade. It excludes retreads, used and part-worn casings, inner tubes, wheels and rims, and waste tire processing, which Radial Insights covers in separate reports.

Volume is large for an economy of this size. The South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC) puts 2025 sales at 12.5 million tires, of which 10.5 million went into the replacement market, and imports held just over 60% of units. Local makers held more than 60% of the market in 2016, but by 2024 that figure had dropped below 40%.

Online sales form the fastest growing channel, at an 8.74% CAGR, as fitment chains link web orders to their bays. Africa, which in this report covers domestic South African sales plus exports into SADC neighbours, is the fastest growing region at 3.70% a year, and it carries 91.50% of 2025 revenue.

The forecast assumes the three remaining domestic producers, Bridgestone at Brits, Continental at Gqeberha and Sumitomo Rubber at Ladysmith, keep running, and that the Sailun project at Coega under study in 2026 is not online before 2029.

Replacement radials for bakkies, trucks and mines set the pace, while bias and local output lag

Radial Insights splits the South Africa tire market across five dimensions. Rates differ sharply: online sales compound at 8.74% while bias construction grows only 1.42%, a gap that reflects how import competition and fleet radialisation reshape the mix.

Two-wheelers grow fastest by vehicle type, LCVs add the most value

Two-wheeler tires post a 4.65% CAGR as delivery riders in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban add scooters, but from a small base. Light commercial vehicle tires follow at 4.02%, carried by the bakkie, the country's best selling vehicle body type, and by the 15.7% jump in 2025 new vehicle sales. Off-the-road tires grow at 3.94% on mining and farm demand, while passenger car tires grow at 3.31% because cheaper imports pull down the average price per unit even as volumes rise.

Replacement outruns OEM fitment

Replacement tires grow at 3.71% against 3.12% for OEM. With 10.5 million of 12.5 million 2025 units already in the aftermarket and a parc of 13.68 million registered vehicles, wear cycles drive most demand. OE volume depends on local assembly plants and on how often they choose domestic suppliers, a point SATMC raised with the dtic in May 2026.

Radial construction keeps gaining share of truck fleets

Radial tires grow at 3.85% while bias tires grow at only 1.42%. Bias products survive mostly in farm implements, some mining equipment and older trailers, and long haul fleets keep moving to radial casings that can be retreaded two or three times.

Imports compound at more than twice the rate of local output

The imported segment grows at 4.48% against 2.11% for locally manufactured tires. Local plants make 36,000 to 45,000 tires a day, and Continental's 2026 allocation of about 1.7 million units sits well below its 2.3 million capacity, which caps domestic growth until new investment arrives.

Online orders climb fastest as chains digitise fitment

Online sales grow at 8.74%, ahead of fleet and direct sales at 3.88%, fitment chains at 3.46% and independent dealers at 3.02%. Supa Quick passed 200 outlets in September 2025, and TiAuto runs 161 stores across five countries, so most web orders still end in a physical bay.

Market Trends

Global producers shrink local footprints while Asian makers study new plants

Goodyear decided on 2 June 2025 to stop production at Kariega, keeping only sales, distribution and its Hi-Q retail chain, and in January 2026 it put the 245,000 square metre site up for sale. In August 2026, government news agency SAnews reported that Sailun Group is studying a R2 billion plant in the Coega SEZ able to make 1 million passenger tires and 300,000 truck and bus tires a year. SATMC said in August 2026 that it backs efforts to bring Chinese makers into local production.

Domestic plants move to localise premium SUV lines

Bridgestone South Africa started making the Dueler A/T002 at Brits in October 2025 in 15 sizes from 15 to 18 inches, aimed at bakkies and SUVs. Local production of all terrain sizes gives domestic plants a defensible niche where import prices are less aggressive and lead times matter.

Plant decarbonisation becomes a sourcing argument

Continental's Gqeberha plant replaced coal with biomass in March 2026, keeping LPG as backup. Export customers in Europe increasingly ask for lower plant emissions, and local OEMs that ship vehicles to the EU follow the same rules.

Retail consolidation brings in foreign capital

Marubeni agreed a deal for TiAuto Investments, owner of Tiger Wheel & Tyre, Tyres & More and Treads Unlimited, in July 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Supa Quick crossed 200 fitment centres in September 2025. Bigger chains bargain harder with importers and push private label lines.

Restraints and Challenges

Low priced imports erode local plant utilisation

SATMC says imports took just over 60% of 2025 units, and the industry's local share fell from more than 60% in 2016 to below 40% in 2024. In June 2025 ITAC imposed six-month provisional payments on tires from Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia suspected of circumventing the anti-dumping duties already applied to Chinese tires, but the probe ended in March 2026 with no final duties.

Job losses and labour risk

The Kariega closure put 907 jobs at risk, and Numsa negotiated severance in August 2025 for 488 members. In January 2026 Numsa warned that Sumitomo's Ladysmith plant had threatened to close. A dtic parliamentary reply in September 2026 listed Goodyear and Continental among firms that closed or cut output.

Waste tire rules remain unsettled

The environment minister withdrew approval of the Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan in June 2025. The R2.30 per kilogram levy raises about R1 billion a year, yet only about 65,000 tonnes of the 148,110 tonnes collected in FY2025/26 were processed, which leaves producers paying for a system that stockpiles casings.

Policy timelines are slow compared with import cycles

SATMC asked the dtic in May 2026 for measures within three to six months, including local tire preference in state procurement and controls on second hand tire imports. The SAAM35 automotive policy review is not due until the end of 2026, so local makers face at least another year of import pressure.

Growth Drivers

A ten year high in new vehicle sales lifts OE and future replacement demand

naamsa reported 596,818 new vehicle sales in 2025, up 15.7% on 2024 and the highest total in ten years. Every new passenger car or bakkie ships on four or five new tires, so 2025 sales alone created OE demand of roughly 2.4 to 3.0 million units, and those vehicles return to the replacement market within three to four years. Bridgestone, Continental and Sumitomo Rubber compete for their fitment contracts. Radial Insights estimates this driver adds about 0.9% to annual market growth through 2035, with the effect peaking in 2027 to 2029 as the 2025 cohort makes its first tire change. If 2026 sales hold near 600,000 units, a second strong cohort follows the same path, which supports the upper end of the OE estimate and keeps fitment demand above 2.5 million tires a year.

A 13.7 million vehicle parc anchors replacement volume

The Road Traffic Management Corporation counted 13,678,534 registered vehicles at the end of December 2025. Long road distances, poor rural road surfaces and the age profile of the fleet push replacement cycles shorter than in Europe, and SATMC data shows 10.5 million replacement tires were sold in 2025, 84% of all units. Fitment networks such as Tiger Wheel & Tyre, Supa Quick and Goodyear's Hi-Q compete on price, speed and credit terms for this demand. Radial Insights credits the replacement base with roughly 1.4 percentage points of the 3.62% CAGR, the single largest contribution, because it grows in line with the parc rather than with new car cycles. A 1% rise in the parc adds roughly 105,000 replacement tires a year at 2025 ratios.

Freight, mining and farm activity raise the value of each unit sold

Road carries most South African freight, and Transnet rail problems have pushed more bulk cargo onto trucks, which wears steer and drive tires faster. Mining operations in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape use large OTR tires that sell for many times the price of a car tire, and the grain belt runs tractors and harvesters on radial farm tires. Truck tire importers told SATreads in July 2026 that tire and rim bundles fell from 25% of truck tire imports in 2023 to below 11%, showing a shift towards standalone premium truck casings. These heavy segments grow at 3.78% to 3.94% a year and Radial Insights estimates they lift total market growth by close to 0.8% a year through mix gains alone.

Opportunities

New local capacity aimed at SADC exports

The Sailun study at Coega, with a first phase of 1.3 million tires a year and 200 jobs rising to 800, would give South Africa its first Asian owned tire plant. A plant inside SACU avoids anti-dumping duties and can ship to Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe by road.

Digital fitment and fleet services

Online tire sales grow at 8.74% a year. Chains that tie web quotes, mobile fitment and fleet tire management into one offer can capture margin that pure importers cannot, a model Marubeni's TiAuto investment is likely to test.

Domestic and SADC demand carries more than nine tenths of revenue, and it also grows fastest

Africa

Africa, which here covers South Africa's own market plus exports to SADC neighbours, held 91.50% of the South Africa tire market in 2025. That share was worth USD 1,592.10 Million and rises to USD 2,289.59 Million by 2035 at a 3.70% CAGR. Within Africa, 12.5 million tires were sold in South Africa during 2025, while Sumitomo Rubber's Dunlop brand reaches 23 African countries from Ladysmith and TiAuto runs stores in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Europe

Europe accounted for 4.20% of revenue in 2025, about USD 73.08 Million, and reaches USD 92.64 Million in 2035 at a 2.40% CAGR, the slowest of any region. South African plants ship selected passenger and SUV sizes to European distributors, and lower plant emissions after Continental's March 2026 switch to biomass at Gqeberha support that channel. Lower export allocations, such as Continental's 1.7 million unit plan for 2026, keep growth modest.

Middle East

The Middle East took 1.30% of 2025 revenue, about USD 22.62 Million, growing at 3.30% a year to USD 31.30 Million by 2035. Radial Insights attributes this revenue mainly to light truck, all terrain and OTR sizes sold to Gulf distributors, a category where local lines such as the Bridgestone Dueler A/T002, built at Brits since October 2025 in 15 sizes, fit regional demand.

North America

North America represented 1.10% of the 2025 total, about USD 19.14 Million, and climbs to USD 24.98 Million by 2035 at 2.70% a year. Volumes here are specialty sizes sold through global group channels, and the 25% US tariff on imported auto parts that took effect in May 2025 keeps growth below the domestic rate.

Asia Pacific (APAC)

Asia Pacific (APAC) accounted for 1.00% of revenue in 2025, worth USD 17.40 Million, and reaches USD 23.16 Million by 2035 at a 2.90% CAGR. Most of this is specialty OTR and agricultural tires sold to Australian mining and farm buyers, where South African suppliers compete on delivery time against Asian factories.

Latin America

Latin America held 0.90% of 2025 revenue, about USD 15.66 Million, growing at 3.00% a year to USD 21.05 Million by 2035. Sales are mostly mining and farm tire orders from Chile and Brazil, served through global group channels of Bridgestone and Continental.

Recent Developments

• In August 2026, SAnews reported that Sailun Group is studying a R2 billion tire plant in the Coega SEZ with first phase capacity of 1 million passenger tires and 300,000 truck and bus tires a year.

• In July 2026, Marubeni agreed a deal for TiAuto Investments, owner of Tiger Wheel & Tyre, Tyres & More and Treads Unlimited, subject to regulatory approval.

• In March 2026, Continental's Gqeberha tire plant replaced coal with biomass as its main energy source, keeping LPG as backup.

• In January 2026, Goodyear South Africa appointed Cushman & Wakefield | BROLL to sell its former Kariega plant site of about 245,000 square metres.

• In October 2025, Bridgestone South Africa began local production of the Dueler A/T002 at Brits in 15 sizes from 15 to 18 inches.

• In June 2025, Goodyear confirmed the closure of its Kariega tire plant, putting 907 jobs at risk while keeping sales, distribution and its Hi-Q retail network.

Three local producers face a wide field of importers and powerful fitment chains

Competition in the South Africa tire market splits between the plants still producing in the country, global brands that now import, and retail groups that control the customer at the point of fitment. The local plants produce 36,000 to 45,000 tires a day and employ about 4,500 people, against total demand of 12.5 million units a year.

Domestic manufacturers

Sumitomo Rubber South Africa runs the Ladysmith plant under the Dunlop brand, described as Africa's largest tire factory; it announced a R1.7 billion upgrade in October 2023 and holds about 20% of local OE supply. Bridgestone South Africa produces at Brits and added local Dueler A/T002 production in October 2025. Continental Tyre South Africa makes passenger and light truck tires in Gqeberha, with capacity of about 2.3 million units a year and a 2026 allocation near 1.7 million.

Global brands supplied by imports

Goodyear South Africa stopped manufacturing at Kariega in 2025 but keeps a full import range and the Hi-Q retail network. Michelin, Pirelli, Apollo Tyres and Maxxis International sell through members of the Tyre Importers Association of South Africa, competing on brand and on price bands that local plants cannot always match. Sailun Group is the most visible Chinese maker, and its Coega study would turn it from importer into producer.

Retail and fitment chains

TiAuto Investments, owner of Tiger Wheel & Tyre, runs 161 stores in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and Marubeni's planned investment would add trading company scale. Supa Quick passed 200 fitment centres in September 2025. These chains decide which brands sit at eye level in the store and how private label budget tires are priced.

How firms compete

Local makers compete on OE approvals, delivery reliability and anti-dumping protection; importers compete on price and range breadth; chains compete on location density, credit for fleets and digital booking. Radial Insights expects the share of imported tires to keep rising through 2030 unless the dtic acts on SATMC's May 2026 requests or a new plant such as Sailun's starts up.