Swift leads, Fronx climbs: SA passenger-car sales for February 2025

The Suzuki Swift was SA’s most popular passenger car for the 2nd straight month, while the Fronx cracked the top 10 in February 2025. Here are Mzansi’s best-selling cars and crossovers…

In February 2025, sales in South Africa’s new-vehicle market increased 7.3% year on year to 47 978 units. As has been the case for several months now, the local passenger-vehicle segment powered this overall industry growth, with registrations in this part of the market climbing a significant 17.0% year on year to 33 757 units.

For the record, the rental channel accounted for a considerable 14.6% of the latter total. While Toyota Motors SA again ranked 1st both overall and in the passenger-vehicle segment, Suzuki Auto SA retained the runner-up position it grabbed from Volkswagen Group Africa in January 2025.

*Suzuki’s Swift was again SA’s best-selling passenger vehicle in February.*

This feat was partly thanks to the Indian-built Suzuki Swift hatchback, which earned the title of Mzansi’s best-selling passenger car for the 2nd consecutive month, this time with 2 351 units (down 10.5%, month on month) registered in February 2025. Some 923 of those sales – equating to roughly 40% of the nameplate’s total – came courtesy of the rental industry.

Therefore, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo again had to settle for 2nd place, with 2 187 units (some 25.4% of which went to rental-vehicle buyers) of the Kariega-produced hatch sold locally in 2025’s 2nd month. That total represents a 14.2% decline compared to January’s effort.

*Toyota’s refreshed Corolla Cross returned to the passenger-vehicle podium.*

Meanwhile, the Toyota Corolla Cross – which received a facelift early this year – gained a position to complete the podium. Sales of the Prospecton-produced crossover increased 17.0% month on month to 1 435 units, which saw the Indian-made Toyota Starlet (1 279 units, of which 458 represented rental-industry sales) slide a ranking to 4th.

The Hyundai Grand i10 (available in both hatchback and sedan body styles) held steady in 5th place, with 1 253 units sold in February. Note this figure excludes the 128 Cargo-badged panel-van units Hyundai furthermore registered in the light-commercial vehicle (LCV) space last month. Meanwhile, the Chinese-built Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (1 147 units) likewise retained 6th position.

*Chery’s Tiggo 4 Pro kept 6th position in February.*

With local registrations surging 45.7% month on month to 1 123 units, the Suzuki Fronx was the only new entrant to the table in February 2025, claiming a strong 7th place. Interestingly, this performance saw the Fronx rank just ahead of the Toyota Starlet Cross (the latter is, of course, based on the former), which nevertheless retained 8th with a total of 1 003 units.

The Haval Jolion – the 2nd Chinese-built model in the top 10 – slipped back into 3 figures in February 2025, with its tally of 982 units ultimately seeing it fall 2 positions to 9th. Finally, the Toyota Urban Cruiser slid a ranking to 10th, with 875 units registered last month. That meant the Kia Sonet was relegated from the table in February, despite sales increasing 5.2% month on month to 873 units (excluding 4 registrations in the LCV segment).