Jetour T2 and Chery hit the highest notes in May new vehicle sales

Mother brand Chery and its resolute sub-brand, Jetour, provided the biggest surprise of the new vehicle sales in May with a record uptake of Tiggo 4 and T2.

Wuhu delight

The month saw the local market extend its sales gain to 19 consecutive months. The Tiggo 4, which remains a combination of Tiggo 4 Pro and Cross, topped 2 059 sales – an improvement on the 1 871 moved in April.

As such, it remains the country’s best-selling imported vehicle and second best performing passenger vehicle overall behind the locally-made Volkswagen Polo Vivo.

By contrast, the Jetour T2 jumped a notch to 10^th place at the expense of the Isuzu D-Max, with an offset of 1 090 compared to its record setting 1 004 in April.

In what is expected to be its penultimate month of sales ahead of the arrival of the new generation AN220 at the end of June, the outgoing AN110 generation Toyota Hilux remained the Republic’s top-seller on 2 448.

The Polo Vivo, meanwhile, leapfrogged the Ford Ranger to become May’s runner-up on 2 335 versus 2 073.

Behind the Tiggo 4, the Hyundai Grand i10 jumped a single position from April’s sixth to fifth with an offset of 1 829, followed by the Suzuki Swift’s 1 588.

In a month which saw imported vehicles outsell locally-made products by six to four, the Great Wall Motors (GWM) Jolion ranked seventh on 1 345, with the Toyota Corolla Cross placing eighth as the only other South African-made vehicle in the top 10 on 1 210.

Placing ninth above the T2 was the Suzuki Fronx on 1 177.

Outside the top 10, the Isuzu’s 1 009 saw it being the only vehicle to record more than 1 000 unit sales.

In one of its best performances to date, the Ford Territory chalked up 495 signatures, while those of the Tata Tiago surged to 408.

BYD’s top-seller, the Dolphin Surf, capped the month’s 50 best-sellers off with sales off 220 units.

Best-selling brands

Of the best-selling brands, Toyota moved 10 667 units, with Suzuki placing second at 5 546.

Volkswagen, whose sales include those of Audi as well, remained third on 5 295, followed by Hyundai on 3 055 and Ford with 2 932.

GWM kept its ranking above its arch rival Chery for the accolade of best-selling Chinese vehicle brand with 2 605 as opposed to 2 569 vehicles sold.

The performance of the T2 lifted saw Jetour’s place behind its parent brand on 2 020, followed by a resurgent Mahindra, which jumped five places from 14^th in April to ninth in May with 1 429 vehicles sold.

Isuzu completed the top 10 with 1 371 vehicles sold.

Top 15

1. Toyota – 10 667
2. Suzuki – 5 546
3. Volkswagen – 5 295
4. Hyundai – 3 054
5. Ford – 2 932
6. GWM – 2 605
7. Chery – 2 569
8. Jetour – 2 020
9. Mahindra – 1 429
10. Isuzu – 1 371
11. Omoda & Jaecoo – 1 369
12. BMW – 1 349
13. Kia – 1 312
14. Renault – 1 240
15. Stellantis – 811

Month in detail

Despite ongoing challenges stemming from record fuel price hikes, the 19^th straight month of new vehicle sales increases again saw more than 50 000 units being sold.

According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), May’s tally of 51 071 units still registered an uptake of 12.8% over the 45 287 vehicles sold 12 months ago.

At the same time, it also became the month’s highest figure since 2013.

The rest of the various segments were as follows:

	Passenger Vehicles	Light Commercial Vehicles	Medium-Duty Commercial Vehicles	Heavy-Duty Commercial Vehicles	Exports
2025	31 701	10 978	632	1 976	30 859
2026	36 871	11 251	718	2 231	29 392
Variation	+16.3%	+2.5%	+13.6%	+12.9%	-4.8%

May Top 50 best-sellers

1. Toyota Hilux – 2 448
2. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 335
3. Ford Ranger – 2 073
4. Chery Tiggo 4 – 2 059#
5. Hyundai Grand i10 – 1 829*
6. Suzuki Swift – 1 588
7. GWM Haval Jolion – 1 345
8. Toyota Corolla Cross – 1 210
9. Suzuki Fronx – 1 177
10. Jetour T2 – 1 090
11. Isuzu D-Max – 1 009
12. Toyota Starlet – 992
13. Toyota Starlet Cross – 944
14. Toyota Vitz – 881
15. Omoda C5 – 858
16. Suzuki Ertiga – 841
17. Volkswagen Polo – 713
18. Kia Sonet – 689*
19. GWM P-Series – 689#
20. Toyota Rumion – 665
21. Mahindra XUV 3X0 – 636*
22. Mahindra Pik Up – 632
23. Toyota Fortuner – 570
24. Toyota HiAce – 553*
25. Volkswagen T-Cross – 541
26. Nissan Magnite – 500*
27. Ford Territory – 495
28. Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series – 495#
29. Jetour T1 – 448
30. Renault Kwid – 444
31. Hyundai i20 – 432
32. Volkswagen Amarok – 417
33. Tata Tiago – 408
34. Suzuki Baleno – 386
35. GWM Haval H6 – 374
36. Chery Tiggo 7 – 333
37. Renault Triber – 333
38. Toyota Land Cruiser Prado – 323
39. Renault Kiger – 310
40. Suzuki S-Presso – 299
41. Suzuki DZire – 294
42. Jetour Dashing – 293
43. Nissan Navara – 288
44. Citroën C3 – 278
45. Hyundai Exter – 263
46. JAC T-Series – 261
47. Suzuki Eeco – 255
48. Jaecoo J5 – 253
49. BYD Dolphin Surf – 242
50. Volkswagen Polo Sedan – 220
    Note:
    *: Includes commercial variants
    #: Combinations of two models