Features / 23 December 2024 / Albert du Toit

Big-ticket car launches in South Africa in 2024

The budget sector may have seen plenty of attention over the course of 2024, but rest assured, the ultra-wealthy also got a bit of love.

Several highly limited cars were launched in South Africa during the year, covering every price bracket from R3 million up to… Well, if you have to ask.

In May, both Alfa Romeo and BMW presented their metal rarities in the form of the Giulia and Stelvio Quadrifoglio Super Sport and M4 CS, respectively.

Alfa confirmed that South Africa had been earmarked anywhere between three and five of these vehicles, though it did not confirm the prices nor the allocation split between the sports sedan and hot SUV.

Globally, just 300 units of the sedan have been produced, and 150 of the SUV, so it’s safe to say that these are among the scarcest Alfas to ever exist.

From Germany, BMW’s track-focused M4 CS was slightly more available than the Italian stallions mentioned above, with a total allotment of 25 examples for South Africa.

A stripped-down version of the already ferocious M4 Competition, the R3-million CS gets an uprated powerplant with 30kW more oomph, an exclusive body kit, and several other goodies that will see it go toe-to-toe with the best of the best around a racetrack.

Range Rover Sport SV Io Curation

Come June, Range Rover took the wraps off the Sport SV Celestial Collection.

Only five of these SUVs are coming to South African roads each one with a bespoke design inspired by Greek mythology and our solar system.

At their core, they’re based on the flagship Range Rover Sport SV that comes with a brute of a 4.4-litre, V8, twin-turbo engine that propels the weighty four-door to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds.

August was a busy month as well, as it saw the unveiling of the Porsche 911 Turbo 50 Years and Mercedes-Benz G-Class Grand Edition.

The Porsche was created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the esteemed 911 Turbo nameplate, with just 1,974 units to ever be built.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes “commemorates the legendary status of the G-Class and confirms its iconic status on and off the road,” said the company.

Unlike the other cars on this list, this quote sounds like there was no particular reason for the three-pointed star to develop this R5.4-million machine other than it knew it would sell, and that demands a certain level of respect, too.

Back to February, Audi unveiled the RS6 Avant GT with a design that harkens back to the Audi 90 Quattro IMSA GTO race car from 1989.

It announced that one out of the 660 units for the planet had been secured for South Africa and that it was to be sold at auction in November.

Audi RS6 Avant GT

The sports estate crossed the auction blocks at a prestigious gala event in November, where it was swooped up by a deep-pocketed buyer for a cool R4.5 million.

Also in November, Range Rover hosted an equally exclusive party at the new Range Rover House in Cape Town.

It took the opportunity to introduce the new Range Rover Onyx, an ultra-luxurious SUV of which only seven had been produced for the African continent.

Finally, Shelby South Africa came in clutch for the American muscle fans in December.

It made headlines announcing that it had secured three conversion kits from Shelby America to transform the seventh-generation Ford Mustang into Shelby Super Snakes.

Each of the three models is available at R3,640,000 a pop, and for this sum, clients may take delivery of the most powerful and technically sophisticated Shelby Super Snake there has ever been.