Features / 3 October 2025 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

The local auto industry continued its upward momentum in September, selling an impressive 54,700 units.

This is the highest monthly level recorded since 2015, and marks a 24.3% year-on-year increase from the 44,000 units sold in September 2024.

Toyota is still on top, as expected, with 14,146 sales under its belt.

This was followed by Suzuki in second place with 6,072 units, and VW in third with 5,763 units.

Ford managed to overtake Hyundai last month to claim fourth place with 3,093 purchases, while the Korean automaker landed in fifth with 3,005 units.

Outside the top five, GWM proved to be the country’s favourite Chinese carmaker with 2,620 sales.

Not far behind is Isuzu with 2,478 units, followed by Chery in eighth place with 2,264 showroom victories.

Kia came ninth with 1,706 sales, and Mahindra closed out the top 10 thanks to its 1,524 customers.

Of the 54,700 vehicles sold in September, 80.1% were attributed to dealer sales while 15.2% went to the rental industry.

Another 2.7% were sold to corporate fleets, and the remaining 2.0% was taken by the government.

Passenger car sales increased by an impressive 28% year-on-year to reach 38,603 units, and light commercial vehicles saw a similarly good improvement of 19.7% to reach 13,078 units.

Another positive indicator was vehicle exports, as South Africa shipped 38,772 models overseas last month – a 32% increase from last year despite global economic uncertainty in the wake of the USA’s tariff wars.