New automotive giant
rises in South Africa

An astonishing story is beginning to emerge between the lines of the car sales statistics put out by Naamsa (the Automotive Business Council) every month.

On the surface, the list of the top 5 car sellers in the country has been a cosy club of long-established brands for as long as most people can remember, or roughly a year. In January 2025, the list comprised, in ranking order, Toyota, Suzuki, VW, Hyundai and Ford. Take the fast lane to April 2026, and it has not changed at all: Toyota, Suzuki, VW, Hyundai and Ford.

Except, it has.

And we’re not talking about the most commonly heard secondary story from these sales figures: the rise of GWM and Chery into the top 10, supplanting legendary brands like Nissan and Mercedes-Benz.

In fact, Merc has dropped out of the top 20, with even Jetour and the combined Omoda & Jaecoo operation swiftly overtaking it and entering the top 10. Nissan, for its part, was still in the Top 5 in January and February 2024, at a time when Merc was preparing to slip out of the Top 15. Nissan made a propitious crash out of the top 10 in April last year, at the same time as Merc vanished from the top 15.

Meanwhile, over this same period, Chery climbed from No. 9 to No. 7, without benefit of its sister brands.

And therein lies the real story. Chery, Jetour, Omoda and Jaecoo are all in fact sub-brands of the Chery Group. It seems the Chery Group made a decision from the start to run its various sub-brands as separate, independent entities in South Africa, although with the two smallest under a combined “&” entity, resulting in three separate sets of numbers being reported.

The logic is clear, especially now that all three entities have entered the top 10: With each having its own identity, each is making an independent appearance in the ranking of the most sold cars in South Africa. In April 2026, according to Naamsa, Chery in 7th place had sold 2,462 cars, just behind 6th-placed GWM with 2,485.

The GWM brand, initially dominated by Haval, now includes sub-brands Jolion, Tank and the P series. In the same way, the VW group does not break out sales of its subsidiary Audi, which allows its declining sales to go unnoticed.  In April 2025, Audi announced it was reducing its dealer network – one of clearest first signs of a shrinking market, which is also a fate that has befallen Mazda.

The Chery Group is headed in the opposite direction.

Behind Chery in 8th place in April comes Jetour, fresh from its triumph in the South African Car of the Year awards in which the T2 was crowned overall winner, with 1,804 sales. And next, astonishingly, comes Omoda & Jaecoo, in 9th place with 1,383 sales. That’s where Chery was just over two years ago.

So far so modest, but look what happens when you add them up: 5,649 cars sold by the Chery Group in April 2026.

Suddenly, that leapfrogs Suzuki (5.363), VW (4,769), Hyundai (2,839) and Ford (2,668). Only Toyota has an unassailable lead, with 9,842 sales, thanks to a trusted brand with a reputation for reliability – and availability. The Chery Group would come in at Number 2.

The current trajectory suggests the Chery brand by itself will eventually overtake Hyundai and Ford, which is no doubt a bragging right it is reserving for the future. Jetour, too, could enter the top 5.

But even without that happening, the automotive landscape is forever changed when a challenger organisation can sneak into the number 2 position in car sales in South Africa, almost unnoticed.

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx, editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za, and author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI – The African Edge”.