Best-selling car brands in South Africa

It’s a difficult time to be a vehicle manufacturer in South Africa, as the automotive sector experienced its eighth consecutive month of reduced sales in March 2024.

During the 31-day period, the industry recorded an aggregate of 44,235 new-car sales, a decline of 5,879 units, or 11.7%, from the 50,114 units sold in the same month last year.

Toyota is still on top with 11,109 purchases, though this is slightly lower than the 11,524 units it moved in February.

Second-place holder VW saw a similar drop from 5,333 to 5,219 units, but Suzuki had a much more dramatic dip, going from 5,221 units in February to 4,335 units last month, ending what had been a very strong start to the year for the Japanese automaker.

Nonetheless, it was still enough for Suzuki to claim the final podium spot ahead of Nissan in fourth, which reported an impressive jump in sales from 2,739 units to 3,995 units.

In a big shakeup to the usual top performers each month, Ford only placed seventh while Isuzu and Hyundai ranked fifth and sixth place with 2,587 units and 2,436 units, respectively.

That being said, Ford still found 2,409 new customers in March, and it’s possible that the pause in sales may be attributed to the launch of two highly-anticipated new models during the month that led to buyers holding off on purchasing a new car immediately.

Haval, another consistent top 10 performer, is now being represented by its parent company GWM which took eighth place, and the final two slots were taken by Chery and Renault.

Of the 44,235 total car sales in March, 88.2% were attributed to dealer sales while another 6.0% went to the rental industry, 3.5% to the government, and 2.3% to corporate fleets.

Passenger cars accounted for 26,817 registrations – a decline of 4,782 units or 15.1% compared to March 2023 – while light commercial vehicles such as bakkies and minibuses saw a drop of 916 units (5.9%) to reach 14,626 units.

Exports didn’t fare much better, as the local manufacturing sector experienced a steep decline of 8,975 units (27.1%) year-on-year, going from 33,136 units shipped overseas in March 2023 to 24,161 units last month.

Naamsa attributes the month’s weak sales to low consumer demand brought on by the Easter weekend as well as long-term factors like high interest rates and fuel costs.