Best-selling car brands in South Africa

November was another difficult month for South Africa’s automotive industry, which reported its fourth consecutive month of reduced sales.

Toyota is still holding on to the number one spot in the best-sellers list thanks to the 11,891 units it sold last month, though this is less than October’s 12,440 units.

Similarly, VW had a decline of roughly 1,000 units, going from 6,595 sales in October to 5,513 sales in November, though the brand is still second overall.

Suzuki had a drop in sales, too, though on a much smaller scale with 4,368 units moved last month compared to 4,480 units the month prior, letting it score the third position in November’s top-sellers.

Fourth place, on the other hand, saw a shakeup as Hyundai dropped in the ranks to sixth place with 2,532 units, while Ford and Nissan moved up to fourth and fifth place with 2,910 units and 2,779 units, respectively.

Isuzu was the last brand to achieve more than 2,000 sales, and Renault, Haval, and Kia all secured a spot in the top 10, too.

In total, the local industry sold 45,075 vehicles – a decline of 9.8% compared to the same month last year which moved 49,986 units.

Of this sum, an estimated 84.8% represented dealer sales, 9.5% sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3.1% sales to the government, and 2.6% sales to industry corporate fleets.

Passenger cars accounted for 29,384 units last month, marking a decrease of 12.1% relative to November 2022, while light-commercial vehicles sold 12,941 units – a drop of 3.9%.

According to Naamsa, the main reason for the drop in sales can be attributed to the return of stage six load shedding and supply chain disruptions with Transnet at South Africa’s ports.