News / 1 July 2025 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

June proved to be a fantastic month for carmakers in South Africa with 47,294 units making their way off the showroom floor.

This is 7,444 units more than the industry sold in June 2024, reflecting a year-on-year (YoY) improvement of 18.7%.

As expected, Toyota led the pack last month with 11,690 sales – considerably more than the 10,330 units it shifted in May.

It was a solid month for most brands, however, as Suzuki took home the silver medal with 5,221 purchases.

This was followed by VW in third, which fell just short of the 5k mark with 4,973 units.

The next two spots saw a reversal as Ford overtook Hyundai to claim fourth place with 3,058 examples, while the Korean automaker landed in fifth with 2,905 sales.

The Chinese duo of GWM and Chery are doing well, too, as their spots are unchanged from the month prior.

GWM landed in sixth place thanks to 2,288 customers, while Chery came seventh with 2,101 sales.

Isuzu is still holding on to eighth place with 2,087 units, and Mahindra earned the ninth spot with its 1,483 sales.

The final spot in the top 10 then saw a change with Kia dropping out of the ranks in favour of BMW, which sold 1,483 units.

Of the 47,294 cars sold in June, 85.9% were the result of dealer sales while another 8.2% went to rental fleets.

Another 3.2% were attributed to corporate fleets, and the remaining 2.7% went to the government.

Passenger car sales accounted for 32,570 units, reflecting a considerable gain of 21.7% YoY from June 2024.

It’s a similar story for light commercial vehicles, which improved 14.9% to reach 12,129 sales.

Another positive indicator is vehicle exports, as South Africa shipped off 36,343 models to other markets in June.

This is 7.9% more than the year before, indicating that exports are recovering after several months of reduced output.

The Automotive Business Council attributed the industry’s good performance to a reduction in interest rates and low inflation, leading to greater consumer confidence and spending.