Features / 22 April 2025 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling budget cars in South Africa

Wallet-friendly options continue to dominate the sales charts in South Africa, as evidenced by the latest reports for March 2025.

The VW Polo Vivo proved to be the poster child for affordable transport last month with an impressive 1,703 units making their way off the showroom floor, though this is admittedly a lot less than the 2,187 it sold in February.

Right on its tail is the Suzuki Swift, which also broke past the 1,500 mark with 1,608 customers in March.

Interestingly, the Toyota Starlet dropped from its usual spot in third all the way down to sixth, leaving the path open for the Hyundai Grand i10 to take the podium with 1,344 sales.

After this came the Nissan Magnite, which jumped all the way from ninth to fourth place with 1,233 purchases.

The Nissan was followed by Chery Tiggo 4 Pro with 1,102 units moved, followed by the aforementioned Starlet with 1,075 units.

Another crossover – the Suzuki Fronx – then took seventh place with 1,052 registrations, making it the last model to break four digits.

Its badge-engineered twin, the Toyota Starlet Cross, had just under 100 units less with 957, which was enough to give it eighth place.

As for the final two spots, the Kia Sonet and Renault Kwid have dropped out of the top 10 in favour of the Mahindra XUV 3X0 and the Suzuki Ertiga – the latter of which is the only MPV to feature on the list.

The 3X0 sold 774 units, while the Ertiga registered 749.

In total, the top 10 budget models accounted for 11,587 sales, or 23% of the 49,493 vehicles sold in South Africa last month.