South Africa May 2022: Suzuki Swift leads for the first time, Toyota plagued by flooding, sales up 2.1%

The Suzuki Swift is the best-selling vehicle in South Africa for the first time.

New light vehicle sales in South Africa gain 2.1% year-on-year in April to 39,177 units. Among them Passenger cars total 27,437 sales while Light Commercials are at 11,912. Toyota remains by far the most popular manufacturer in the country but at 16.4% share vs. 24.1% in April it takes a big hit due to severe flooding in its Durban factory out of production for 12 weeks.. The Volkswagen Group follows at 12.1% share vs. 13.7% last month, with Suzuki (11.1%), Hyundai (7.7%) and Renault (6.2%) in tow like in April. Ford (6.1%) is up two spots on last month to #6, pushing Nissan (5.9%) and Kia (5%) down to #7 and #8 respectively. Although staying at #9 Haval significantly improves its market share on April from 3.8% to 4.9%. Isuzu (3.2%) rounds out the Top 10 like last month.

In the models ranking, we have a surprise in pole position: due to the weakness of most Toyotas, the Suzuki Swift takes the overall lead for the first time in South African history with 4.5% share. As a reminder it ranked #10 in March and #2 in April. The Ford Ranger is up six spots on last month to #2 while the Toyota Hilux is down two to #3 and sees its market share shrink from 7.5% to 3.5% due to the factory flooding. However the Toyota Urban Cruiser, imported from India, is up 13 ranks to #4, knocking the VW Polo Vivo down to #5. The Isuzu D-Max is up four spots to #6, the Haval Jolion up three to #10 and the Toyota Rumion (a rebadged Suzuki Ertiga) soars from outside the April Top 20 directly to #12. The Suzuki S-Presso (#14) and Mahindra Scorpio Pik up (#15) also make an appearance in the Top 20.

Previous month: South Africa April 2022: Suzuki Swift up to #2, Renault Kiger in Top 10, sales up 4.3%

Previous year: South Africa Full Year 2021: Toyota Hilux #1 for 9th straight year, market up 22.1%

Full May 2022 Top 10 manufacturers and Top 20 models below.