Jetour is rapidly climbing through the ranks in South Africa, achieving a top sales position in the span of just a few months.
The Chinese carmaker hasn’t been around for very long, only making its local debut back in September 2024.
In the short time it has been in South Africa, Jetour managed to pull in hundreds of customers, outperforming several other companies that have held a local presence for years.
In January 2025, the brand announced that it had already reached its first sales milestone of 1,500 units, meaning it was able to sell over 500 cars per month in the three months since it launched here.
It has evidently managed to keep this momentum going, as Jetour officially made its way into the top 15 best-selling car brands this past April.
According to the Automotive Business Council, Jetour sold a total of 573 cars in the month, positioning it as the 15th best-performing manufacturer overall.
These were the final sales figures for every major car brand in South Africa in April:
- Toyota – 10,363 units
- Suzuki – 5,977 units
- VW – 3,973 units
- Hyundai – 3,007 units
- Ford – 2,398 units
- GWM – 1,943 units
- Chery –1,852 units
- Isuzu – 1,383 units
- Renault – 1,281 units
- Mahindra – 1,278 units
- Kia – 1,277 units
- BMW – 1,146 units
- Omoda & Jaecoo – 865 units
- Nissan – 794 units
- Jetour – 573 units
- Stellantis – 527 units
- Mercedes-Benz – 518 units
- Foton – 253 units
- Mazda – 249 units
- BAIC – 215 units
- Jaguar Land Rover – 210 units
- JAC – 207 units
- Honda – 137 units
- Porsche – 116 units
- Mitsubishi – 93 units
- Proton – 66 units
- Volvo – 59 units
- Subaru – 37 units
Jetour is outperforming 13 other auto brands in South Africa, which is even more impressive when you consider that most of them have been around for far longer.
Companies like Mazda, Honda, and Mitsubishi have existed on local soil for years, and Mercedes-Benz even has a factory in the Eastern Cape producing the fan-favourite C-Class, giving it a home-field advantage.
Admittedly, luxury brands like Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover do not compete on volume, which means they arguably aren’t a fair comparison to a family SUV badge like Jetour.
However, it is worth noting that Jetour was able to outsell Stellantis, which is a conglomerate representing several different carmakers such as Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Peugeot, Opel, Jeep, and Citroen.
What’s most intriguing is the fact that Jetour still is a relatively obscure brand to most South Africans, who are unfamiliar with the vast array of different automakers hailing from China.
Brand loyalty is a major factor that drives a lot of purchases here, which is one reason why top performers like Toyota have maintained their dominant position for years on end.
A shift in the market
The rise of Jetour is not unprecedented, as the last few years have seen a major shift in consumer purchasing habits.
Legacy manufactures like VW are slowly declining in sales, creating a gap in the market for new automakers to enter the scene in droves.
China is undoubtedly the pack leader in this regard, as companies like Omoda, Jaecoo, GAC, Foton, and MG all launched here within the last two years.
All of these brands are performing reasonably well in South Africa, offering a selection of vehicles that are competitively priced versus their legacy rivals.
In the case of Jetour, it currently offers two different SUVs, the Dashing and X70 Plus, which retail for R439,900 and R454,900, respectively.
The Dashing is a a midsize SUV, which means it is ostensibly competing against models like the VW Tiguan, Ford Territory, and Toyota Rav4, but these cars are far more expensive with prices ranging from R593,500 to R712,700.
This price discrepancy is likely one of the reasons why brand loyalty is not as big of a factor as it used to be, as motorists are more willing to purchase a cheaper car from an unknown badge during these tough economic times.
Loading ...
