News / 4 February 2025 / Albert du Toit

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

Toyota took the lead as the best-selling car brand in South Africa for the first month of 2025, pulling in an impressive 12,152 purchases.

Second place, however, saw a bit of a shakeup in the order. Usually, this spot is held by VW but the German marque fell down to third with the penultimate position being usurped by Suzuki once again for the first time in a year.

When all was said and done, Suzuki tallied 6,399 purchases in January while the VW Group – which also takes into account Audi’s figures – totaled 5,676.

From here on out things were largely the same as December, though, with Hyundai claiming fourth thanks to 2,760 registrations and Ford fifth for its 2,467 .

Chery managed to beat its main rival, GWM, for sixth position with 1,913 sales for the former compared to 1,756 for the latter.

Isuzu then landed in eighth with 1,733 units moved, Mahindra in ninth with 1,463, and Kia in 10th with 1,428.

Looking at the market as a whole, aggregate domestic new-vehicle sales in January 2025 came in at 46,398 units, which reflected a gain of 4,375 units, or 10.4%, from the 42,023 vehicles sold in January 2024.

Out of the total reported transactions, an estimated 81.4% represented dealer sales, 14.8% sales to the vehicle rental industry, 2.2% sales to industry corporate fleets, and 1.6% sales to government.

Passenger-car sales jumped by 18.3% while sales of light commercial vehicles such as bakkies and mini-buses recorded a decrease of 9.1%.

Meanwhile, sales for medium commercial vehicles saw an uptick of 11.6% whereas heavy commercial vehicles and buses experienced a drop of 2.8% versus the corresponding month in 2024.

In terms of exports, shipments increased by 5,803 units, or 29.7%, to 25,348 units in January 2025 compared to the 19,545 in January 2024.

The positive start to the year is underscored by lower interest rates, well-controlled inflation, and a general uptick in consumer confidence, said Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa.

“Despite the short-lived and unexpected Stage 3 loadshedding implemented on January 31, 2025, for the weekend, the country experienced a remarkable streak of over 300 days without loadshedding, marking the first such period in seven years. While the inflation outlook for the second half of the year remains positive, new inflation risks, such as the anticipated rise in tariffs on trade, have emerged. Additionally, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa has granted an electricity tariff increase of 12.74% for implementation on April 1, 2025, which is approximately three times the current Consumer Price Index rate,” said Mabasa.

“However, early indicators suggest a potential turning point for the new vehicle market in 2025, driven by stronger economic prospects, growing consumer and business confidence, and improving new
vehicle sales data.”