Best-selling car brands in South Africa

The new-car market experienced its third consecutive month of year-on-year gains in December 2024, registering a total of 41,273 sales across the passenger and commercial vehicle sectors, reflecting an increase of 2.5% in comparison to the same period in 2023.

Ruling the roost was Toyota which racked up an impressive tally of 11,004 transactions, putting it well in the lead.

The second top performer was VW with a solid 4,785 units sold, with Suzuki hot on the German’s heels with its 4,514 registrations.

In fourth sat Hyundai which made off with 2,809 purchases, followed by Ford with 2,520.

It was a heated battle for sixth and seventh between the Chinese rivals of Chery and GWM, though in the end, Chery prevailed thanks to its 1,867 customers compared to GWM’s 1,686.

Hyundai’s sister brand Kia sat in eighth with 1,496 sales, Isuzu ninth with 1,120, and closing out the top 10 was Renault with 1,105 vehicles sold.

Passenger car sales in December saw an increase of 8.2% year on year, whereas light commercial vehicles such as bakkies and minibuses dropped by 10.3%.

Meanwhile, registrations of medium commercial vehicles rose by 7.6% while that of heavy commercial vehicles and buses decreased by 11.8%.

Out of the total reported industry sales, an estimated 88.4% represented dealer sales, 8.1% sales to the vehicle rental industry, 2.1% to government, and 1.4% to industry corporate fleets.

Exports performed less favourably during the final month of 2024.

Vehicle shipments continued their downward slope and at 25,931 units, reflected a loss of 1,158 vehicles or 4.3% versus the 27,089 vehicles exported during December 2023 to end the year at 308,380 units.