South Africa July 2024: 2nd market lift in past year, Toyota Starlet Cross launches

The Toyota Starlet Cross is a rebadged Suzuki Fronx

The South African new light vehicle market edges up 1.5% year-on-year in July to 44,229 sales. This is only the second gain in the past 12 months alongside last April (+2.2%). Year-to-date volumes remain in negative at -6.3% to 289,982. Worryingly, exports sink -33.2% in July to 25,461 and are down -13.5% so far the year at 182,455. The Top 4 manufacturers beat the market: Toyota (+3%) is up to 25.2% share vs. 24.7% year-to-date, the Volkswagen Group is up 6.6% to 14% share vs. 12.9%, Suzuki (+10.4%) holds 10.9% of the market and Ford (+16%) is at 6.6%. Isuzu (+8.9%) and Chery (+23.7%) also shine below. 

The Top 5 models are identical to last month. The Toyota Hilux (+1.3%) easily leads the way with 6.8% share, distancing the VW Polo Vivo (+19%), the Ford Ranger (+8.1%) and Isuzu D-Max (+6.4%), making it three pickups (bakkies as they are called here) in the Top 4. The Toyota Corolla Cross (-14.1%) is in difficulty in 5th place. In contrast the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (+66.4%), Hyundai Grand i10 (+39.3%), Nissan Magnite (+31.8%) and VW Polo (+31.1%) all impress in the remainder of the Top 10. The Toyota Starlet Cross (in fact an Indian Toyota Taisor and therefore a clone of the Suzuki Fronx) lands directly at #20 despite being in market since late July. It notably sells just 30 units less than the Fronx this month. Finally both the Omoda C5 (#45) and Jaecoo J7 (#48) return inside the Top 50.

Previous month: South Africa June 2024: Toyota and Hilux lead, Chery up, Land Cruiser Prado surges

One year ago: South Africa July 2023: Toyota and Hilux lead, Chery at record level

Full July 2024 Top 39 All manufacturers and Top 50 models below.