News / 1 September 2026 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

The South African car industry kept up its strong momentum in August 2026 with sales increasing by 11.4% year-on-year to reach a total of 57,898 units.

The top seller was Toyota, as expected, with an impressive count of 13,814 units, more than double that of the second best performing brand.

This title is currently held by Suzuki, which sold 6,505 units, putting it well ahead of its main rival, VW, which came third with 5,668 units.

Fourth and fifth place flipped, as Ford moved up a spot thanks to 3,202 sales, slightly ahead of Hyundai and its 3,034 units.

Two Chinese brands, Chery and GWM, then came sixth and seventh with 2,763 and 2,594 units, respectively.

Isuzu landed in the eighth spot thanks to 2,531 customers, and Jetour came ninth with 1,952 sales.

Last up is Kia, which knocked Mahindra out of the top 10 by moving 1,783 cars last month.

Of the 57,898 sales reported in August, an estimated 47,364, or 81.8%, were attributed to dealer sales. Another 13.4% went to the rental industry, while the government took 2.4%, and industry corporate fleets accounted for the remaining 2.4%.

Passenger car sales reached 41,216 units, reflecting an increase of 4,269 units (11.6%) from the same month in 2025.

Light commercial vehicles also saw a jump in sales, going up by 11.0% to a new total of 13,727 units.

Unfortunately, one area that has continued to see a decline is vehicle exports, as South African carmakers shipped 35,091 units in August, a drop of 11.9% from the 39,833 achieved one year prior.