Best-selling car brands in South Africa

It was a strong period for vehicle sales in South Africa in July 2024, with several brands improving on their numbers from the previous month.

Toyota is comfortably in first place with 11,131 units – an impressive gain of 1,388 sales compared to June.

VW enjoyed a similar uptick, going from 5,414 to 6,178 units, helping it to cement its position in second.

While it’s not as close to Volkswagen as it was earlier this year, Suzuki also had a great month, with its 4,816 sales securing the final spot on the podium.

The line-up as a whole is almost identical to last month’s, as Ford and Hyundai are still sitting in fourth and fifth with 2,901 and 2,699 transactions, respectively.

Falling just outside the top five is Isuzu with 2,072 sales, making it the last brand to find more than 2,000 customers in July.

Not far behind is Nissan with 1,884 purchases, followed by two Chinese brands namely Chery and GWM selling 1,701 and 1,562 examples, respectively.

The one change this time around is BMW, which fell out of the top 10 to be replaced by Renault, which moved a total of 1,210 units.

In total, the industry sold 44,229 models in July 2024, reflecting a 1.5% (657 units) gain compared to the same month last year.

Of this figure, an estimated 81.1% went to dealer sales, while another 13.5% went to the vehicle rental industry.

Meanwhile, 2.9% were taken by the government, and 2.5% were snapped up by corporate fleets.

Passenger cars accounted for 29,934 units, representing an increase of 6.8% year-on-year, while light commercial vehicles sat at 11,554 sales, depicting an 8.8% loss over the same period.

Unfortunately, exports were down dramatically as only 25,461 models were sent overseas – a drop of 12,671 units, or 33.2%, from July 2023.

Naamsa suggests that the performance of the local market is cause for optimism for stronger consumer spending in the second half of 2024 thanks to improved economic prospects.

This includes the introduction of several new highly-anticipated models, a lack of load-shedding, a stronger rand exchange rate, and two potential reductions in interest rates before the year is out.