These are South Africa’s top 10 best-selling hatchbacks

SUVs and crossovers continue to grow in popularity and represent the biggest slice of South Africa’s new-car market, accounting for 45.5% of sales.

However, the country’s best-selling passenger car is a hatchback, the imported Suzuki Swift. The market share of hatches has decreased in recent years but it remains the second largest category, with 22.9% of sales. In a price-sensitive market, affordability has seen great demand for budget A- and B-segment hatches, while sales of more expensive C-segment hatches — such as the VW Golf, Mazda3 and Hyundai i30 — have greatly dwindled.

The recently launched fourth-generation Swift has hit the sweet spot for consumers. It has knocked the rival Volkswagen Polo Vivo from its long-held perch as the country’s best-selling hatch — in the first four months of this year, the B-segment Suzuki hatch moved 8,640 units, compared to the Polo Vivo’s 7,805.

The locally built Polo Vivo, facelifted a few months ago, has mostly kept pace with the Swift so far this year, averaging more than 2,000 units a month. But it is now in short supply due to the temporary closure of VW’s Eastern Cape factory to prepare for the production of its new compact crossover model, leading to the Polo Vivo selling 1,366 units in April compared to the Swift’s 2,053.

In third place is the imported Toyota Starlet with 5,439 year-to-date sales, comfortably outperforming the Suzuki Baleno on which it is based. As part of a product-sharing agreement between Toyota and Suzuki, the Starlet is essentially a Baleno with a different badge and minor cosmetic and feature changes, with both cars built on the same production line at Maruti-Suzuki’s facility in India. Suzuki has three cars in the top-10 best-selling hatchbacks, with the Baleno in eighth place and the A-segment S-Presso in 10th.

The imported Grand i10 is South Africa’s fourth best-selling hatchback this year and Hyundai’s most popular car. Launched here in 2020, it received a facelift in August 2023, which has kept it looking fresh in a hyper-competitive segment. Hyundai’s larger B-segment i20, which was given a midlife refresh in July 2024, is in ninth place with 1,257 units.

The locally built Volkswagen Polo is fifth. Assembled in Kariega alongside the Polo Vivo, which is a refaced last generation Polo, the latest Polo is a pricey contender in the segment but remains popular. The Kariega plant has been building the current Polo since January 2018 and introduced the facelifted version in August 2021. The Polo nameplate has been around for 50 years and more than 20-million units have been sold globally in six generations.

In sixth is the Vitz, Toyota’s most affordable car, which competes in the budget A-segment. It has sold 2,131 units so far this year and is a rebadged Suzuki Celerio, which has recorded 743 sales and is outside the top 10.

In seventh place is the Renault Kwid, launched in 2016 and facelifted in 2019, which continues to be a popular seller despite its age.