These are the most in-demand vehicles on Cars.co.za

The automotive landscape is changing quickly with the rise of Chinese brands and affordable alternatives.

Online car sales platform Cars.co.za has crunched its 2025 data and issued two charts showing the changing demand for different brands and model ranges. Compared to 2024, some old favourites slipped down the charts fast while new brands are soaring.

The two charts show demand on Cars.co.za at a brand level and demand at a make/model level. The data is based on vehicles younger than five years (new and used) with less than 200,000km, based on enquiries submitted on Cars.co.za on advertised vehicles during 2025.

BRANDS

While the top seven brands last year are the same as the year before, only Toyota and Suzuki have grown in demand on Cars.co.za.

The traditional German luxury brands (BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi) have all slipped down the table.

Of the traditional brands, there have been slight upward shifts from Kia (+1), Peugeot (+1), Citroën (+1) and Isuzu (+1).

Chery moved up by two slots (from 15th to 13th), with a significant jump in lead share. The brand with the biggest ranking loss in the Top 20 is Mazda, down to 17th from 14th. The biggest winner in the Top 20 is Omoda, which has jumped from 27th to 20th with a substantial lead share gain.

The brand that has improved its position on the table the most is Jetour, which was in 44th in 2024 and ended 2025 in 22nd.

Smaller luxury brands such as MINI, Volvo, Jaguar, Lexus, Jeep and Alfa Romeo have taken the biggest beatings (in terms of ranking), while supercar brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren have disappeared from the Top 50, largely due to the massive influx of new brands at lower price points.

MODELS

Behind the Volkswagen Polo, which remains the most in-demand vehicle on Cars.co.za (albeit with a declining share), Toyota’s Hilux has retaken its usual position as South Africa’s most in-demand bakkie.

However, the vehicle that has made the biggest jump in the Top 10 is the Suzuki Ertiga, which has moved from 8th to 5th, even outpacing the Suzuki Swift.

The vehicle with the biggest ranking climb is the Suzuki Ertiga’s clone, the Toyota Rumion, which has soared by 13 positions last year to 11th overall. If we combine the lead share of these two identical vehicles, the Suzuki Ertiga/Toyota Rumion is now as in-demand as the third-placed vehicle on the chart, the Ford Ranger.

The most popular Chinese models last year were the Haval Jolion (up eight places to 13th) and the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro (up eight places to 20th.)

The biggest winner in the Top 100 was the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro (up 33 places), followed by the Omoda C5 (+28) and Chery Tiggo 7 Pro (+25). Other interesting big movers include the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (a jump of 24 positions), and the Toyota Land Cruiser 79 (up 19 slots). The GWM P-Series continues its march up the table, having risen by 16 slots to an impressive 24th overall last year.

The vehicles that have seen the biggest declines includes once popular cars that have been discontinued. These include the Ford Figo (-39), Renault Clio (-35) and Nissan Almera (-29).

Of cars that are still on offer in the new vehicle market, the models with the biggest declines were the Mazda2 (-21), Renault Duster (-17) and Mercedes-Benz A-Class (-17).