The Polo is South Africa's most prolifically produced vehicle at the moment.
The numbers on the showroom floor tell an uncomfortable story. New vehicle sales climbed 15.7% to 597,338 units in 2025, and the first half of 2026 kept accelerating, up 12.9% year-on-year to more than 315,000 units, with June posting its best result in 19 years. Ordinarily, that would be unambiguous good news. Instead, as component manufacturer Metair has warned, most of that growth is being captured by imported metal rather than local production. Suzuki, importing every unit from India, is now South Africa's second best-selling brand. Chery alone moved over 6,000 units in just the first four months of 2026, with GWM, BYD, MG, Geely and GAC all chasing the same momentum. The Industrial Development Corporation has calculated that Chinese imports helped drive a R140 billion trade deficit with China in the first nine months of 2025 alone, while India, chiefly through Suzuki and Mahindra, is an even larger source of the imbalance. Imports now account for roughly two-thirds of new car sales in South Africa, an extraordinary reversal for a country that still manufactures vehicles for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Isuzu.
