Chery names its first bakkie Grootman
Chery has named its first bakkie for South Africa Grootman, a name chosen by South Africans. The model is planned to make its local debut in the first quarter of 2027.
- Product News
- 2 October 2026
Suzuki received its final sales figures for the financial year from April 2023 to March 2024. It shows that 51 969 new Suzuki models were sold in the 12-month period, setting a new all-time record and breaking through the 50 000 barrier for the first time.
“We missed the 50 000 mark by the narrowest of margins in the last financial year, when we sold 49 576 vehicles. So it was with great joy that we were informed of our sales figure for the most recent financial year,” says Henno Havenga, General Manager of Sales and Marketing at Suzuki Auto South Africa.
The brand started its financial year in April 2023 with the introduction of the all-new Grand Vitara, its flagship and the first hybrid Suzuki model. The Suzuki Eeco panel van landed in the same month.
Other models joined the line-up throughout the year, including the Fronx and XL6 (August) and the Jimny five-door model (November). The larger Jimny made a guest appearance at Suzuki Auto South Africa’s Jimny Gathering, where 787 South African Jimnys set a new Guiness World Record for the most vehicles to switch on their lights at the same time.
Along the way, Suzuki and its dealers set several new monthly sales records. These include selling the 200 000th South African Suzuki in July 2023, breaking through the 5 000-a-month record in January with 5 249 sales and the Suzuki dealer network selling a record 4 488 vehicles to customers in February.
Suzuki is one of a handful of vehicle brands that has grown its sales and market share in a sharply declining market. In March, for instance, the new vehicle market recorded a drop of 11.3% over the same month last year, its eighth month of consecutive declines.
Suzuki Auto South Africa and its counterpart in India shared mutual congratulations and the end of their financial years, following news of the local record and a new cumulative production record for Maruti Suzuki in India.
Suzuki achieved accumulated automobile production of 30 million units in India by the end of March 2024, making it the country in the Suzuki world to reach this milestone the quickest. It took Suzuki in India 40 years and 4 months since the start of production to reach this record, which beats the previous record of 55 years and 2 months set by Suzuki in Japan.
Chery has named its first bakkie for South Africa Grootman, a name chosen by South Africans. The model is planned to make its local debut in the first quarter of 2027.
South Africa’s new vehicle market recorded aggregate domestic sales of 61 645 units in September 2026, an increase of 12.7% compared with the 54 706 units sold during September 2025.
SA Auto Week 2026 is scheduled to take place in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, from 13 to 16 October, with the event marking five years of SA Auto Week.
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Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
George Carlin
South Africa’s new vehicle market recorded aggregate domestic sales of 61 645 units in September 2026, an increase of 12.7% compared with the 54 706 units sold during September 2025.
SA Auto Week 2026 is scheduled to take place in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, from 13 to 16 October, with the event marking five years of SA Auto Week.
South Africa’s domestic new-vehicle market strengthened in September, recording 61 645 sales, its highest monthly total of 2026. Sales increased by 3 747 vehicles, or 6.5%, from August’s originally reported total and were 12.7% higher than in September 2025.