Best-selling car brands in South Africa

In February 2023, South African consumers purchased a total of 45,352 new vehicles, a modest 2.6% increase in comparison to the same month in 2022, according to Naamsa’s latest new-vehicle sales statistics.

The top three performers were the usual suspects, Toyota coming in first, VW in second, and Suzuki in third. Rather impressively, all the manufacturers in the top 10 also managed to sell over 1,500 units each, with Haval scooping up a tenth place thanks to its 1,538 sales.

Of the aggregate new-vehicle purchases during the shortest month of the year, 83.6% were attributed to dealerships, 9.0% to the vehicle rental industry, 5.1% to the government, and 2.3% to industry corporate fleets.

Bakkies and mini-buses were big performers as the light-commercial vehicle segment boasted a market share of approximately 29%. The medium-heavy truck segment accounted for 1% and the heavy truck segment for 3%, while the remainder of the sales is attributed to passenger cars.

Exports, on the other hand, dropped in February 2023 in relation to the corresponding period in 2022.

The number of cars shipped from South Africa to other countries during the month amounted to 30,409 units, a drop of 11.5%.

“While momentum for the new vehicle market has been slow, Naamsa forecast that both domestic sales will grow by 6,3% [at 563,000 units] for 2023 and export sales will grow by 8,3% [380,900 units],” said the organisation.

“This year is riddled with a combination of challenges from logistic infrastructure to power security and pressures on business and household spending, however historic resilience by the industry is a safe compass driving industry aspiration.”