Which car brands topped the South African sales charts in the first 6 months of the year? Are locals sticking to tried-and-tested names or willing to explore alternatives? Let's have a look!

The following sales results are provided by Lightstone Auto, and are for the first 6 months of the year. Note that Mercedes-Benzdoes not report disaggregated sales data, but does provide a total Passenger market number (included below). We are therefore unable to include, for example, the historically strong-selling Mercedes-Benz C-Class as an individual model.

Sales totals are for all channels (dealers, rentals, government etc.)

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Overall Brand Sales

Passenger Cars (Top 20)

The new VW Polo Vivo ranks as the top-selling passenger car in the first half of 2018.

Volkswagen's major announcements of 2018 have certainly found favour with South Africans, with the new Polo and Polo Vivo (previous-gen Polo) secure at the top of the sales charts.

Perhaps more interesting is the fact that a relatively pricey, big SUV occupies the third spot on the podium – Toyota's Fortuner continues to be the large family car of choice. Five other SUV/crossovers also make the top 20.

Just outside of the Top 20 with more than 2 000 units sold in the first 6 months, Mazda's CX-5 (our current Cars.co.za Consumer Awards – Powered by WesBank, Family Car of the Year) is also selling very strongly.

Shopping for one of these new cars? Click on their names to be taken to specification/finance estimation pages.

Light Commercial Vehicles (Top 10)

Still the king– recent additions such as the Dakar Limited Edition havefurther enhanced the Hilux's enduring appeal.

The battle between the Hilux and Ranger rages on, but Toyota has emerged victorious in the first half of this year. With the half-tonne market now all to itself, Nissan's NP200 continues to do well, and the ageing Isuzu KB is certainly benefitting from greater marketing attention, now that the Japanese brand operates independently in South Africa. Nissan will be hoping to significantly improve on Navara volumes in the second half of the year.

Shopping for one of these new LCVs? Click on their names to be taken to specification/finance estimation pages.