RSA Passenger Car Sales : 2025 (Jan- June)

Volkswagen was the best selling passenger car brand in South Africa until 2022. At that time, Toyota took over the top spot. Then in 2024 Suzuki moved into second place, relegating VW another ranking down to third. 

Toyota last lost some market share so far this year, Suzuki improved very slightly and VW has dropped further, to its lowest share since well into last century. 

VW's problem is based on relying on the Polo model, both current and the one before, which is sold as the Polo Vivo. The two brands now above it have a much broader spread of models that sell well.

Chinese brands have established themselves and are proving popular. Indian sourced cars do well here, for Toyota, Suzuki, and of course, Mahindra the main ones. 

Jaguar has ceased selling cars here as is the case elsewhere, the 28 sales that were achieved through what dealer stock was left. 

Some popular models YTD were:

Suzuki Swift - 13,840

VW Polo Vivo - 11,310

Toyota Corolla Cross - 9,576 

(Top photograph)

Hyundai Grand i10 - 7,836

Suzuki Fronx - 7,683

(Lower picture)

Toyota Starlet - 7,330

Chery Tiggo 4 - 7,099

Data source: Naamsa.

Photos : Toyota & Suzuki SA.

Hong Kong Passenger Car Sales : 2024

It's been a while since Hong Kong has graced these blog pages. My first attempt included used imports which have now been weeded out. That reduced the total by 6,000 and hit mainly Japanese brands as they drive on the same side of the road and is presumably the source of most used imports. So let's see how things went in 2024. 

First up, some background. HK doesn't limit car ownership like Singapore, with its certificate system that caps the number of cars on the road. Instead, high registration taxes, parking fees and tolls are used to discourage both car ownership and their use. This is backed up with a quality public transportation system that offers an affordable alternative.  

As for vehicle type, electric cars have become very popular. This has given Chinese brand sales real impetus, as we can see below. Tesla is on top despite sales volume remaining the same. Holding a over 20% share is impressive but with so many electric brands arriving, surely that is an untenable level of success.

Premium marques certainly didn't have a good year. Maxus has seemingly come out of nowhere and smart (picture above) came from years of obscurity to a top ten position with its new electric car range. Brands that sell fossil fuel cars will increasingly be marginalised. 

Data source: HK Transport Department.

The Jaguar Disaster

Whenever we leave a job, it will be defined by the legacy we left. Hindsight is a fine thing and is the clearest view we can get on a direction that we took. Below are a few points I'd like to share regarding directions mistakenly taken by JLR regarding the Jaguar marque.

1) Trying to go it alone. Alfa Romeo is a brand that struggles but is surviving because the cost of developing models is shared within the Stellantis Group. Jaguar didn't have that luxury and the volumes weren't high enough to carry that burden alone. 

The solution was to push volume up but anyone with a knowledge of traditional, conservative premium car buyers would know that they were never going to do that en masse. A totally flawed approach.

The only one that made sense was collaboration and the compromises that come with it. JLR didn't want to dilute Jaguar's DNA and I get that. But beggars can't be choosers.

2) Dumping the Electric XJ. The development cost had already been paid and if that was to be written off, then surely from that point on it would be profitable to produce. It would also be a positive flagship model for the marque.  

Had it been an entry level model, then that wouldn't help its image going forward, as Jaguar made it move up market. However, this was a top of the range BEV Jaguar, an ideal model to take the marque where it was heading.

There were issues about the platform it was built on and where to build it but the reason given was it didn't fit the direction the band was heading. At a cost of nearly £500 million to develop, I would have found a way to make it happen. 

3) A jump upmarket. I can see JLR was trying to put a distance between where Jaguar was and where it is going to be in the future. However, the best way to go upmarket is to do it incrementally. How could they do it in one step? By stopping production and then taking the giant leap into luxury after a sales hiatus.

What a flawed premise. The risks associated with this move were certainly not worth taking. A more measured and gradual approach was the only way to do this, but somehow JLR would pull it off.  

4) Going fully electric. There is a saying about never putting all your eggs in one basket. JLR did just that and it's going to leave egg on some people's faces. It has been announced that low demand for luxury electric vehicles will now mean a delayed introduction of the two planned Jaguar EVs. 

Will a delay achieve anything? Is there a sudden upturn expected soon? This high risk move upmarket into full electric has disaster written all over it. JLR has painted itself into a corner because the initial concept was risky and has no plan B. Failure was always the most likely outcome. 

Summary:  Jaguar is a marque that could have been managed so much better but those entrusted with its care have failed in their duty. The first rule of any undertaking is to do no harm. Then build on that. Bold moves have to succeed or else you end up failing big time. To me, where Jaguar has ended up is a disaster.