Tiggo 4 Pro hits all-time high! SA passenger-car sales for May 2025

The Chery Tiggo 4 Pro cracked the top 5 on the list of South Africa’s best-selling passenger cars in May 2025, while the SA-built VW Polo hatch returned to the top 10…

In May 2025, sales in South Africa’s overall new-vehicle market increased 22% year on year to finish on 45 308 units. However, growth in the industry’s new passenger-vehicle market was even stronger, with sales here improving 30% year-on-year to 31 741 units.

So, what happened on the list of Mzansi’s best-selling passenger vehicles last month? Well, though local registrations of the Suzuki Swift slipped 10.3% month on month to 1 842 units in May 2025, the Indian-built hatchback remained SA’s top-selling passenger car. As many as 543 units (or nearly 30%) of that total represented sales to the rental-vehicle sector.

*Suzuki’s Swift was Mzansi’s best-selling passenger car yet again.*

Meanwhile, the Toyota Corolla Cross (1 629 units) retained 2nd place, with local registrations of the Prospecton-built crossover increasing 2.8% compared with April 2025. The Volkswagen Polo Vivo saw stronger month-on-month growth of 13.0% – despite VW halting production at the Kariega plant to carry out upgrades – ending on 1 543 units and climbing a ranking to 3rd.

That meant the Hyundai Grand i10 – with sales falling 5.3% month on month to 1 350 units – slipped a place to 4th in May. Note that the Grand i10’s figure excludes the 187 units of converted Cargo-badged panel vans registered in the light-commercial vehicle (LCV) space last month.

The Chery Tiggo 4 Pro ended May 2025 on a tally of 1 255 units, representing a month-on-month improvement of 10.8%. That performance – which we believe is the Chinese budget crossover’s best effort yet in South Africa – saw the Tiggo 4 Pro move up a place to 5th, officially entering the top half of the table. Interestingly, 94 of those sales (or 7.5%) came via the rental channel.

Despite the Suzuki Fronx enjoying some month-on-month growth (1 219 units; +2.8%), the Indian-made crossover slid a ranking to 6th in May. Meanwhile, the Haval Jolion (1 113 units; +14.4%) cracked 4 figures to hold steady in 7th, with the Suzuki-built Toyota Starlet (1 039 units; +14.8%) doing to same to retain 8th.

Volkswagen Polo to survive in Europe — *VW’s Kariega-built Polo hatch returned to the top 10 in May.*

The Kia Sonet (863 units; +6.3%) climbed a position to 9th, while the Volkswagen Polo hatch (767 units; -0.1%) returned to the top 10 after placing 12th in April. The Polo was, of course, the 3rd and final SA-built model to make the passenger-vehicle table (with 5 spots occupied by Indian-made models and the final 2 by Chinese-built products).

Nameplates that came close to cracking the top 10 in May 2025 included the Suzuki Ertiga (721 units), Toyota Starlet Cross (694 units), Volkswagen T-Cross (686 units), Toyota Fortuner (679 units) and Toyota Vitz (624 units).