Hyundai, Kia, Renault, and Mitsubishi’s market share in South Africa decreased during the six months ended December 2024 owing to increasing competition from Asian automakers.
This is according to the latest interim results from Motus for the six months ended December 2024. Motus is the exclusive importer and distributor of these four brands for the South African market and a number of other African nations.
According to the company, Hyundai achieved a 7.9% market share in the passenger car segment as at December 2024, down from 8.1% in 2023.
Renault sat at 4.4% versus 5.9% the year prior, Kia at 4.1% compared to 4.8%, and Mitsubishi at 0.5%, a slight decrease from 0.6%.
Overall, these four brands accounted for roughly 16.9% of passenger vehicle sales between July and December 2024, reflecting a 2.5 percentage point decrease from the 19.4% held in 2023.
“The importer brands continue to face market pressure and are being negatively impacted by the slowdown in consumer demand in quarter one, strong competition from the Asian brands further penetrating the market, as well as consumers buying down to entry-level vehicles or opting for pre-owned vehicles which is negatively impacting the mix of vehicles sold,” said Motus.
Despite the shrinking market share of its headlining brands, Motus’ import and distribution business still increased revenue for the period by 7% to R10.6 billion.
“Revenue increased by 7%, mainly due to increased volumes being sold to the dealer channel and reduced volumes to vehicle rental on buy-back where revenue is not recognised,” the company said.
However, operating profit for the import and distribution division declined by 17% to R313 million.
This was primarily driven by higher vehicle and parts costs, exchange rate volatility affecting vehicle and parts purchases, and margin compression due to the competitor landscape.
Seizing the opportunity
The primary benefactors of the changing consumer preferences have been Suzuki and Chinese nameplates such as Chery and Haval.
Over the last decade, Suzuki has grown its sales figures from an average of 534 vehicles a month in 2014 to 4,676 in 2024, reflecting 876% growth.
The Japanese nameplate, who imports most of its cars from India, peaked at a high of 6,006 monthly sales in October 2024, with its Swift becoming the best-selling car in the country in January 2025 with an impressive 2,628 transactions.
Likewise, Chery saw its sales rise from around 103 per month in 2014 to 1,695 a decade later; whereas Haval went from 36 to 1,580.
While established automakers are coming up with ideas to reclaim the market share they have lost over this period, it doesn’t seem like the trend will cease in the immediate future.
A slew of new Chinese automakers are on their way to South Africa all with equally attractive offerings to those that currently exist, suggesting it will become harder and harder for those who are already here to retain the market share they have won, and even more difficult to win back what they have lost.
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