News / 2 November 2026 / Michael Taylor

Best-selling car brands in South Africa

South Africa’s car industry recorded strong growth in October 2026 despite ongoing cost of living challenges.

A total of 61,890 vehicles were sold last month, 5,839 (10.4%) more than the 56,051 sold in October 2025.

As you probably assumed, Toyota is still leading the pack by a wide margin, with sales reaching an impressive 14,495 units.

This is nearly twice as many units as the second best-performing brand, Suzuki, which moved 7,292 units.

This puts it ahead of its main rival, VW, which sold 6,515. Likewise, Ford is still ahead of Hyundai in fourth place with 3,353 purchases compared to the latter’s 3,207.

The Chinese duo of GWM and Chery then came sixth and seventh with 2,919 and 2,754 units, respectively.

Kia claimed the eighth spot thanks to 2,233 customers, and Isuzu and Jetour landed the final two spots in the top 10 with 2,102 and 1,706 sales.

Looking at the sector as a whole, an estimated 48,234 sales (78%) were attributed to dealerships, while 16.5% went to the rental industry.

The government bought 3.3% of all the vehicles sold last month, and the remaining 2.2% were corporate fleet sales.

Passenger car sales totalled 45,084 units, reflecting an increase of 5,380 (13.6%) from the 39,704 sold in 2025.

Light commercial vehicles, meanwhile, increased by 291 units (2.2%) from 13,398 to 13,689 over the same period.

Notably, vehicle exports also increased year-on-year by 6.3% to reach 38,117, reversing a concerning trend of reduced overseas sales.