The SA Vehicle Industry Thread

SA’s 10 best-selling hatchbacks in 2025

Indian-made models dominate the list of South Africa’s 10 best-selling hatchbacks for 2025, taking as many as 8 spots. Here are the nation’s most popular hatches…

- SA-built VWs take positions 1 and 6
- Swift secures a strong 2nd place
- Indian-made models dominate list

Though the crossover body style continues to grow in popularity in South Africa, local buyers still clearly hold a soft spot for hatchbacks – particularly those of the budget variety. So, which ones were most popular last year? Well, we’ve gone through the sales stats to identify SA’s 10 best-selling hatchbacks in 2025.

Interestingly, while 2 contenders are locally built, the remaining 8 are all imported from India. Suzuki – which ranked as Mzansi’s 2nd most popular automaker overall in 2025 – boasts as many as 3 models inside the top 10, while also producing the 2 Toyota hatchbacks to make the list.

South Africa’s 10 best-selling hatchbacks of 2025

HATCHBACK 2025 SALES
1 Volkswagen Polo Vivo 26 067 units
2 Suzuki Swift 23 921 units
3 Toyota Starlet 16 281 units
4 Hyundai Grand i10 (hatch) 15 474 units
5 Toyota Vitz 9 436 units
6 Volkswagen Polo (hatch) 9 390 units
7 Renault Kwid 6 270 units
8 Suzuki Baleno 5 679 units
9 Hyundai i20 3 819 units
10 Suzuki S-Presso 3 784 units

 
After 60 years Nissan sells up in South Africa as Chery acquires Rosslyn Plant

Nissan and Chinese manufacturer Chery SA have reached an agreement on the acquisition of Nissan’s manufacturing assets in Rosslyn, outside Pretoria, South Africa.

This means that after nearly 60 years of Nissan production in South Africa, the company now becomes a vehicle importer only.

Currently the Nissan plant manufactures the Nissan Navara.

Subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, including regulatory approvals, Chery SA will purchase the land, buildings and associated assets of the Nissan facilities, including its nearby stamping plant, in mid-2026.

Employee stability

The agreement will see the majority of associated Nissan employees offered employment by Chery SA on substantially similar terms and conditions as currently.

Jordi Vila, Nissan Africa President, said: “Nissan has a long and proud history in South Africa and has been working to find the best solution for our people, our customers and our partners. External factors have had a well-known impact on the utilisation of the Rosslyn plant and its future viability within Nissan.

“Through this agreement we’re able to secure employment for the majority of our workforce thereby also preserving opportunities for our supplier network. This move also ensures that the Rosslyn site will continue contributing to the South African automotive sector.”

 
Chery SA to purchase Nissan’s Rosslyn factory

Chery South Africa is set to acquire Nissan’s local manufacturing plant in Rosslyn, South Africa, in 2026.

Nissan opened its Rosslyn production plant, where the Japanese automaker has produced new vehicles for six decades, in 1966. Now, this historic assembly facility is set to change hands, with Chery and Nissan having reached an agreement on the Chinese automaker its acquiring the South African-based plant.

This shift comes amid mounting pressure on Chinese manufacturers, with new Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) guidelines prohibiting below-cost vehicle pricing, alongside tighter export rules taking effect in 2026. While these measures limit the ability of brands to offer deep discounts in markets such as South Africa, they have also intensified discussions around localised production as a strategic response to potential import duty increases being considered by the South African government.

While certain conditions are yet to be agreed upon, including regulatory approvals, in mid-2026, Chery South Africa will obtain the land, buildings, and associated manufacturing assets of the Nissan facilities, including its nearby Stamping plant. Nissan has stated that the majority of its employees will be offered employment by Chery SA with terms and conditions that closely mirror their current contracts.

Jordi Vila, Nissan Africa President, said: “Nissan has a long and proud history in South Africa and has been working to find the best solution for our people, our customers and our partners. External factors have had a well-known impact on the utilisation of the Rosslyn plant and its future viability within Nissan.”

www.carmag.co.za

Chery SA to purchase Nissan’s Rosslyn factory

Chery South Africa is set to acquire Nissan’s local manufacturing assets in Rosslyn, South Africa in 2026.
www.carmag.co.za www.carmag.co.za
 
Nissan to sell South Africa plant to China's Chery

Nissan Motor (7201.T), opens new tab said on Friday it would sell its manufacturing assets in Rosslyn, South Africa, to the local arm of China's Chery Automobile (9973.HK), opens new tab for an undisclosed sum.

Chery SA will buy the land, buildings and associated assets of Nissan's facilities in mid-2026 if conditions, including regulatory approvals, are met by then, the struggling Japanese automaker said in a statement.

Production of the Navara pickup truck, the plant's only model, will end in May if the deal goes ahead, a Nissan spokesperson said. The model is made for the local market and exported to several countries, mainly in Africa.

The move is part of Nissan's ongoing turnaround plan under which it is closing or consolidating seven plants. The company declined to confirm the production capacity of the Rosslyn plant, which was set up more than 50 years ago.

"External factors have had a well-known impact on the utilisation of the Rosslyn plant and its future viability within Nissan," Nissan Africa president Jordi Vila said in the statement.

Nissan has been hard hit in South Africa since production of its high-volume NP200 half-ton pickup truck ended in 2023.
It faces stiff competition from Toyota's Hilux, Ford's Ranger and Isuzu's D-Max pickup trucks, all ranked in the top 10 best-selling cars in the country.

www.reuters.com

Nissan to sell South Africa plant to China's Chery

Nissan Motor said on Friday it would sell its manufacturing assets in Rosslyn, South Africa, to the local arm of China's Chery Automobile for an undisclosed sum.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com
 
Inside Nissan's strategic sale of Rosslyn plant to Chinese manufacturer Chery

After more than 60 years of production at the Nissan Plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria, the sale of land, buildings and associated assets including its stamping plant was driven by needing to look at how to keep an important South African manufacturing plant viable, protect jobs, and find a long-term solution that made sense not only for the business, but for the country.

That thinking ultimately led Nissan to Chinese manufacturer Chery.

Speaking to "Independent Media" on the sidelines of the Nissan GTR&Z AGM at their head office in Irene, Pretoria, Nissan Africa president Jordi Vila said that once production of the NP200 ceased, it became clear that something had to replace it to keep the Rosslyn plant operational and financially sustainable.

Cancelled projects

“When the NP200 ended, we all knew that something needed to replace it to keep the plant in the black and keep it running,” Vila said.

Nissan initially explored introducing a new locally built product, potentially with multiple powertrains, that could serve South Africa while also being exported into Africa, Europe and the Middle East. But those plans fell away as Nissan entered its global Nissan restructuring towards the end of 2024.

“A number of projects were cancelled,” Vila explained. “From that point, we knew the solution we had initially planned for was no longer possible.”

The plant continued to manufacture the Navara for local consumption and export into Africa but that was not enough to keep things viable.

Retain SA capacity

That left Nissan with two options. One was to close the plant – a route Vila said would have been the easier decision from a purely financial perspective. The other was to find a solution that preserved jobs and retained industrial capacity in South Africa.

Before any decision was taken, Vila said Nissan set out clear strategic principles.

“Number one was people,” he said. “Then business continuity, brand and reputation, and of course cash flow and profit. We are a business, but we also have a social responsibility.”


 
FiestaST said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2014613700909408597

Click to expand...

Pretty sure Cherry will keep the workers for the minimum period (probably 3 years) then replace them all with cheaper Chinese workers, will be very intretsing to see how this unfolds.

EIther way Cherry is clearly here to stay and some of the models are performing very well. Would love to see cherry launch a Nissan 1400 clone
 
Chery, Nissan and the future of Rosslyn

Bakkies mean great business for car companies in South Africa, and the Chery-Nissan deal could reshape the local market in many ways. We explore how.

Nissan built bakkies in Rosslyn for more than 60 years. And some of those models were among South Africa’s most iconic cars: the 1400 Champ, Hardbody (its legacy NP300 version) and Navara.

But the inevitable has now happened. Nissan South Africa has been struggling for a long time. With the company making its biggest international restructuring ever last year, Rosslyn was never going to survive. But can it be revived? That’s the question anyone who is interested in the South African car industry, and specifically Chinese vehicles, will be pondering.

The dealsheet is simple. Chery is buying Nissan’s factory and stamping facility in Rosslyn. But buying an established automotive assembly plant is complicated. There’s the question of Nissan’s technical and labour staff; South Africa’s entrenched manufacturing sector trade unions; and the people most affected by this deal that everyone forgets about: all those small- and medium-sized suppliers who have delivered with commitment, building numerous locally sourced components for the Navara over the years.

Why did Chery buy the Nissan Roslyn plant?

The Chinese are masters at building and commissioning assembly facilities. We don’t need to tell you that much of what you buy is made in China. Nobody is better at breaking ground, building and getting a factory scaled up and producing than the Chinese.

But Chinese car companies, like Chery, also know it’s often cheaper to buy an existing factory that’s in trouble than build a new one. You save on timelines and pure construction costs. And that’s part of the motivation Chery had for buying Nissan’s Rosslyn assets. Everyone knows Nissan is in trouble globally, and it’s restructuring. So Chery could call a price and the likelihood was that Nissan would accept it. And means the Rosslyn assets were probably bought for a bargain.

Another reason Chery wanted Rosslyn was government funding. The South African automotive industry receives significant financial support from the government. If you build cars here, you can price them cheaper because they don’t trigger the 25% import tariffs. And you can access a lot of government support money, which makes it even cheaper to build.

Nobody knows how to build as cheaply and well as the Chinese. And South African automobile production costs are actually quite high. But without import tariffs, and with access to the government’s APDP incentives and export credits, Chery South Africa’s product portfolio could become even more affordable in South Africa. This means it could undercut its Chinese rivals, who all need to pay that 25% import duty.

 
Scooby_Doo said:
www.moneyweb.co.za

SA weighs steep tariffs on vehicles from China, India

Of up to 50%, from the current 25%.
www.moneyweb.co.za www.moneyweb.co.za

I still want to know how increasing tariffs on imports protects the manufacturing of cars in SA? We export the ****ing things.
Click to expand...
all about saving jobs, overpriced jobs that modern plants already automated ages ago

that's been the MIDP / APDP scam from the very start:

- slap import duties on cars

- give brands with local car manufacturing plants credits so they can offset those import duties on other model cars they import and sell here

- viola, job creation at the cost of South African motorists who get to pay for it all seeing as locally made cars have no reason to enter any sort of price war with imported cars, they have the import duty to protect their profit margin
 
NarrowBandFtw said:
all about saving jobs, overpriced jobs that modern plants already automated ages ago

that's been the MIDP / APDP scam from the very start:

- slap import duties on cars

- give brands with local car manufacturing plants credits so they can offset those import duties on other model cars they import and sell here

- viola, job creation at the cost of South African motorists who get to pay for it all seeing as locally made cars have no reason to enter any sort of price war with imported cars, they have the import duty to protect their profit margin
Click to expand...

Sounds about right, but that cannot last - surely either tariffs will need to be 500% on imports or the manufactures will just stop upgrading their plants and therefore SA will not have anything to export. There is no future where cars manufactured in SA will be better/cost effective vs larger countries.

This sounds like the whole industry is on life support because the ANC can't survive the closure politically.
 
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