The fast-growing Japanese manufacturer selling more cars than Volkswagen in South Africa

Suzuki has emerged as one of the fastest-growing vehicle manufacturers in South Africa, with its new car sales now outpacing Volkswagen’s.

This represents a fall from grace for Volkswagen, which has been South Africa’s second-best-selling car brand for years, just behind Toyota.

Suzuki now finds itself in this second-place position, having first overtaken Volkswagen in terms of sales in 2025.

This was revealed in a Daily Investor analysis of Naamsa’s monthly local new car sales data from January 2020 to August 2026.

The analysis showed that Volkswagen had the upper hand over Suzuki for well over two years, selling 70,324 cars in 2020 compared to the Japanese brand’s 20,222.

While Suzuki’s sales increased notably in 2021, reaching 28,294, Volkswagen maintained a comfortable lead, selling 68,803 cars that year.

However, this gap between the two manufacturers narrowed significantly in 2022, with Suzuki nearly doubling its yearly sales to 50,859 cars, while Volkswagen’s declined slightly to 68,652.

Both manufacturers saw their sales decline year-on-year in 2023, with Volkswagen selling 65,089 cars and Suzuki 49,137.

Things took a turn in 2024, with Suzuki surpassing the milestone of 60,000 vehicles sold in a year, reaching 60,816, while Volkswagen’s sales remained relatively flat at 65,145.

Suzuki secured another achievement that year: In March 2024, Suzuki sold more cars in a month than Volkswagen for the first time.

The same happened in April and August of that year, with Suzuki building momentum in South Africa that would pay off in 2025.

2025 marked the first year that Suzuki’s yearly South African sales surpassed Volkswagen’s, with the Japanese manufacturer selling 68,847 cars compared to Volkswagen’s 62,382.

This is on track to be repeated in 2026, with Suzuki having sold more cars than Volkswagen every month of this year so far.

In the year-to-date, Suzuki has sold 49,928 vehicles in South Africa, while Volkswagen has sold 43,770.

The local sales trends for these two manufacturers can be seen in the graph below.

Suzuki’s South African rise

Suzuki’s rise to becoming the second-best-selling car brand in South Africa could not have been predicted when it first launched in the country in the 1980s.

Suzuki sold passenger vehicles in South Africa through third-party or import channels in the 1980s, but was mainly known as a motorcycle manufacturer.

Until 2004, the Suzuki brand was distributed under Delta Motors, which later became General Motors South Africa.

This agreement was terminated in 2004, leaving Suzuki outside of the South African market for four years.

However, in 2008, Suzuki launched its own operations in South Africa: Suzuki Auto South Africa (SASA).

It established a head office in Johannesburg, opened 12 dealerships across the country, and introduced its iconic Swift model to the local market.

A 2018 blog post on the Suzuki website explained that this brought the Suzuki brand closer to the end customer, making its cars and replacement parts more freely available to clients.

The company explained that other brands entering the South African market at that time focused their energy on gaining market share as quickly as possible.

However, they would end up exiting the market as quickly as they arrived. Instead of following this playbook, Suzuki focused on building solid foundations for the future.

“Our focus was therefore to establish a strong dealer base that would be in it for the long haul. Suzuki dealers needed to be able to fully support our customer base as it grew,” the company said. 

“We sought out a small but elite selection of the top financially viable dealerships that not only suited the brand but were completely invested in its future in South Africa.”

This approach has paid off well for Suzuki, which is now among the fastest-growing vehicle brands in South Africa.

To put Suzuki’s rise into perspective, its sales now outpace those of Volkswagen, a brand that entered the South African market 75 years ago.

Volkswagen launched and produced its first locally assembled vehicle, its iconic VW Beetle, in South Africa in 1951 at a plant in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape.

Since then, Volkswagen has built 40 models and 4.8 million vehicles at the Uitenhage plant, 3 million of which were built for the South African market.