Features / 2 February 2026 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

The South African auto industry started the new year with a bang, carrying over the positive momentum it sustained for most of 2025.

A total of 50,073 vehicles were sold in January 2026, marking a year-on-year improvement of 7.5% from the 46,594 sold in January 2025.

Toyota remains unchallenged as the industry leader, moving 11,786 units over the 31-day period.

Second place went to Suzuki, which managed to reclaim the title from Volkswagen with 6,410 units compared to the latter’s 4,774.

This was still enough for VW to earn third place, as the next slot was taken by Hyundai with 3,048 sales – maintaining its lead over Ford in the fifth spot with 2,678 units.

Outside the top five, GWM outperformed its Chinese rival Chery, ending in sixth place with 2,521 purchases, while Chery came seventh with 2,258 units.

Kia moved up from ninth to eighth place thanks to 1,888 customers, and Mahindra made its way back into the top 10 with 1,671 sales earning it the ninth spot.

Last up is Isuzu, which knocked Jetour out of the rankings with 1,606 sales.

Of the 50,073 vehicles sold last month, 85.4% were attributed to dealership sales while another 10.9% were thanks to the rental industry. Corporate fleets accounted for 2.1% and the remaining 1.6% went to the government.

Passenger car sales grew 7.1% year-on-year to reach 37,190 units, while light commercial vehicles saw an even larger increase of 11.0%, ending with 9,903 purchases.

Vehicle exports effectively stayed the same, reporting a 0.6% increase with 24,568 units making their way overseas in January.