Top dogs of the South African car market in 2024

The new year has finally arrived, which means it’s time to take stock of the best-performing car brands from 2024.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Toyota cleaned house with a staggering 128,564 sales throughout the course of the past year, working out to an average of 10,713 every month.

Toyota thus sold more in one month than certain brands did throughout the whole year, but there were still a number of other badges that managed to win over a substantial fan base.

VW was also well ahead of the curve with an impressive 66,199 sales, but its long-term position as the nation’s second-best-selling automaker is now under threat from Suzuki, which shot up the ranks to secure third place with 59,441 units.

As a matter of fact, Suzuki actually managed to outsell VW in April, so the German marque clearly has its work cut out if it wishes to hold on to its title in 2025.

Outside the top three, Ford roped in 32,766 new customers, thanks in large part to the ever-popular Ranger bakkie, and Hyundai’s renewed emphasis on affordable hatchbacks and crossovers evidently paid off with 30,759 showroom victories last year.

Isuzu, meanwhile, landed in sixth with 23,290 sales, which was followed by Nissan with 22,282 units.

While this was enough to secure the seventh spot for Nissan, it is worth noting that its sales declined sharply following the discontinuation of the NP200 last April, illustrating just how important the model was to the brand’s lineup.

In contrast, the Chinese brands Chery and GWM had an excellent year with 20,376 and 18,927 purchases, respectively, earning them the eighth and ninth spots.

Finally, there’s Renault, which managed to pull ahead of other performers like Kia and BMW to round out the top 10 with 15,822 units finding new homes.

As for the industry as a whole, a grand total of 522,198 passenger and light commercial vehicle sales were recorded in South Africa in 2024.

Unfortunately, this is a slight reduction of 1.87% from the 532,098 units the sector managed the year before, indicating that consumer spending has stagnated.

Of the 522,198 cars purchased in the last year, a staggering 418,430 units (80%) came from just the top 10 brands, showing that motorists certainly have their favourites when it comes to new transport.

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

These were the best-selling car brands in South Africa in 2024, according to sales data provided by the Automotive Business Council for the last 12 months.