By: Lonwabo Mtyeku | Photo Credit: Cars.co.za
Johannesburg, South Africa – 2 February 2026
Cars.co.za has announced the appointment of Nicole Capper Austin as Chief Marketing Officer, effective immediately, in a move that underscores a strategic rethink of marketing leadership amid rapid structural change in South Africa’s automotive retail market.
The appointment follows insights revealed in the Cars.co.za Industry Report, released at DealerCon 2025, which pointed to a market undergoing fundamental transformation rather than incremental evolution. Buyer behaviour is shifting, traditional brand loyalties are weakening, affordability pressures are reshaping demand, and new entrants are challenging long-established rules. Crucially, the idea of a single, stable “mainstream” car buyer is fading fast.
Capper Austin joins Cars.co.za from Humanz, an influencer marketing agency and technology platform, where she led growth initiatives, scaled the business, forged enterprise partnerships, and built high-performance teams in a sector defined by measurable outcomes and little tolerance for superficial marketing. Unusually for a CMO, she is originally trained as a pharmacist, bringing with her a mindset grounded in evidence-based decision-making, analytical discipline, and operational rigour.
“This is not a hire about credentials alone,” Capper Austin said. “It’s about temperament — the ability to remain clear-headed when a category becomes noisy, and to lead teams through change without losing momentum or trust.”
Her connection to the automotive world is also deeply personal. Raised in a family that built cars in their garages, Capper Austin grew up immersed in automotive culture and craftsmanship. “We’re not in the business of selling listings,” she said. “We’re in the business of helping people make meaningful decisions about identity, mobility and independence, often under real economic pressure.”
Cars.co.za believes this cultural understanding is critical at a time when the market has fragmented into overlapping subcultures: budget-conscious first-time buyers, families balancing practicality and cost, off-road and performance enthusiasts, vintage collectors, and consumers whose primary concern is long-term reliability. According to the company, this diversity demands a fundamentally different marketing approach.
“The South African automotive market is no longer a single conversation,” the company said. “It has splintered into multiple communities shaped by different needs, constraints and aspirations.” In such an environment, Cars.co.za argues, success will not come from louder or broader campaigns, but from relevance, trust and service tailored to distinct buyer realities.
Capper Austin’s background in influencer marketing is seen as particularly relevant to this shift. “She understands that influence is not reach; it’s trust,” the company noted. “The future of this category is not about interruption, but about belonging.”
With this appointment, Cars.co.za signals an intent to move beyond traditional mass-market persuasion towards deeper engagement with the communities that now define South Africa’s automotive landscape — positioning the platform not just as a marketplace, but as a trusted partner in increasingly complex car-buying decisions.
About Cars.co.za
Cars.co.za is one of South Africa’s leading automotive digital marketplaces, connecting buyers and sellers while offering trusted tools, content and insights to support better car-buying and selling decisions.
Media enquiries:
Khanyi Xayimpi
Email: khanyi@cars.co.za
Tel: +27 72 490 9280
