South Africa’s favourite luxury car brand isn’t BMW – it’s Toyota
Toyota is South Africa’s best-selling car brand, but its product lineup has shifted upmarket over the last few years, with greater emphasis on its flagship models, such as the Hilux double cab and the Prado SUV.
The Japanese carmaker is unquestionably the most popular brand in the country, selling roughly twice as many units as its closest competitors each month.
In February 2026, Toyota sold a grand total of 12,272 units while the runner-up, Suzuki, sold 6,562 units.
This also puts it leagues ahead of established luxury brands like BMW, which sold 1,237 cars last month.
Much of this success can be attributed to the fact that Toyota has a massive presence in South Africa with an established dealer network and its own manufacturing facility at Prospection in KwaZulu-Natal.
It also has an extensive catalogue of 124 model variants across 22 different vehicles.
However, while the brand still enjoys enormous success in South Africa, its selection of cars has become considerably more expensive in recent years.
Of the 124 models it sells, only 31 of them (25%) are priced under R500,000, meaning the remaining 75% now cost more than half a million rand.
To further illustrate this, we looked at the starting prices for every Toyota passenger car and light commercial vehicle sold in South Africa.
We included separate prices for the single cab, Xtra (extended) cab, and double cab variants of Toyota’s bakkies:
- Toyota Vitz – R178,800
- Toyota Starlet – R268,300
- Toyota Starlet Cross – R304,900
- Toyota Rumion – R307,900
- Toyota Urban Cruiser – R342,700
- Toyota Hilux Single Cab – R365,300
- Toyota Corolla Cross – R414,800
- Toyota Hilux Double Cab – R534,100
- Toyota Hiace – R549,300
- Toyota Hilux Xtra Cab – R568,800
- Toyota Corolla – R584,400
- Toyota Fortuner – R685,900
- Toyota RAV4 – R719,800
- Toyota Quantum – R754,400
- Toyota Land Cruiser 79 Single Cab – R840,900
- Toyota GR86 – R891,800
- Toyota GR Yaris – R942,200
- Toyota Crown – R948,000
- Toyota Land Cruiser 79 Double Cab – R949,800
- Toyota GR Corolla – R985,200
- Toyota Land Cruiser 78 – R988,800
- Toyota Land Cruiser 76 – R1,065,300
- Toyota Prado – R1,342,200
- Toyota GR Supra – R1,524,800
- Toyota Land Cruiser 300 – R1,550,000
Of the 25 above-listed vehicles, only seven have a starting price under R500,000.
However, only two of these – the Hilux Single Cab and Corolla Cross – are Toyota originals, as the rest are all rebadged Suzuki models.
Toyota has a partnership with Suzuki, allowing it to sell Suzuki cars under its own brand in South Africa.
This applies to five cars, which are rebadges of the following Suzuki models:
- Toyota Vitz – Suzuki Celerio
- Toyota Starlet – Suzuki Baleno
- Toyota Starlet Cross – Suzuki Fronx
- Toyota Rumion – Suzuki Ertiga
- Toyota Urban Cruiser -Suzuki Grand Vitara
Excluding these models, Toyota only sells a single passenger car under R500,000, which is the Corolla Cross.
When TopAuto visited Toyota South Africa Motor’s factory in Durban in 2022, a company representative told us that the brand is no longer concerned with the sub-R400,000 market.
This explains why this segment has effectively been outsourced to Suzuki, as Toyota has shifted upmarket to cater to the demand for its GR performance cars and high-end 4x4s like the Prado, Land Cruiser 300, and top-spec Hilux variants.
South Africa lacks affordable local car options
The South African government is considering raising import tariffs on Chinese- and Indian-made cars to protect local carmakers such as Toyota, VW, Ford, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
This is in response to the flood of new car brands that have entered the country over the last three years, including Omoda, Jaecoo, Tata, Jetour, GAC, BYD, LDV, Foton, and more.
This influx of Chinese and Indian brands has sounded alarm bells across the industry, as many of the new marques are rapidly gaining favour with consumers.
Most of these brands are selling cars at considerably lower prices than their legacy rivals, which has naturally made them extremely popular with South Africa’s cash-strapped households.
The government’s proposed solution is to raise prices on these imported cars, but this is a move that will ultimately punish consumers who are unable to afford locally-made cars.
TopAuto previously reported that South Africa does not produce a single car that is substantially cheaper than a foreign equivalent.
Even the VW Polo Vivo, often held as the prime example of local affordability, is only the 25th cheapest car on the market, with prices ranging from R271,900 to R363,100.
It’s a similar story for Toyota’s cheapest locally-made car, the Corolla Cross, which now asks for anywhere from R414,800 to R569,700.
Raising prices on Chinese cars could make these prices seem more appealing by comparison, but it doesn’t change the fact that these are very high prices for a country where the average formal sector salary is just R29,490 per month, according to Stats SA.
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