Pain at the pump: tracking the price of petrol

Four years ago, a litre of 95 Octane cost R16.76. Since then we have endured a pandemic, fluctuating oil prices and currency failures, so that same litre now costs R22.63. 

The impact on the cost of a tank of fuel has been immense. From the 85l tank of a Porsche down to the 37l tank of a Suzuki Swift, motorists are forking out a whole lot more for petrol than they were when prices were low and the world was in lockdown in May 2020. 

Independent publication The Outlier, which specialises in using data to create public service stories, has used the AA’s fuel price indicator as well as motoring information from car manufacture magazines and the department of transport to plot the costs. 

The tracking of the petrol price over four years shows that the cost of filling a Porsche tank has risen from R1,425 to R1,924. Looking at a more average, middle-of-the road Ford Eco Sport, the cost has escalated from R872 to fill the 52-litre tank to R1,177. And at the bottom of the scale, the Swift’s tiny tank now costs R837 to fill, up from R620 in June 2019. 

The cost of filling the Swift tank has been tracked and plotted monthly over the four year period, in a graph that shows clearly how the price has risen and dropped over the years, as the petrol price has been affected by various factors. 

The graph shows how, in the past four years, the cost of filling a Swift tank has fluctuated from an extreme low of R452 in May 2020, to an all-time high of R894 in June 2022. Today it costs R837.