Wondering how South Africa’s newest nameplates sold in September 2023? Let’s take a look at sales figures of the Ford Puma, Suzuki Fronx and more…

Several new nameplates have launched in South Africa over the past few months. So, just how well have they been received? We sifted through the sales figures to see exactly how these newcomers performed in September 2023.

Let’s start with the Ford Puma, which technically hit the local market only at the start of October (though we broke the news back in August). Despite having just hit the market, the Blue Oval brand reported 52 registrations in September, with dealers likely having taken these orders well before launch. Considering its positioning, it’ll be interesting to see how this small crossover fares in the months to come.

The new Suzuki Fronx is already finding favour with SA buyers.

What about the new Suzuki Fronx? Well, the Indian-built newcomer managed an impressive 527 units in its 1st full month on sale, after hitting a total of 302 units in August (despite the fact it had been on sale for just 2 weeks at that point).

It seems the Ertiga-based Suzuki XL6 hasn’t been quite as well received by local buyers, with 46 examples of the new 6-seater model sold in September (along with 6 units registered in the final few days of the prior month). Of course, it’s still early days…

September was the Mazda CX-60’s slowest month yet.

A few other nameplates launched a little earlier in the year, such as the Suzuki Grand Vitara. The Japanese firm’s flagship SUV managed a tally of 320 units in September, after hitting a high of 382 registrations in May 2023. The Mazda CX-60 finished September on 17 units, its slowest month since launching in the 2nd quarter of this year, though the range is scheduled to expand with 6-cylinder turbodiesel power in early 2024.

Meanwhile, the Subaru Crosstrek – which arrived in Mzansi to replace the XV back in June 2023 – failed to hit double figures last month, settling for just 7 sales. The fully electric Volvo C40 Recharge finished September on 2 registrations, though we understand SA’s initial allocation was very limited.

Toyota’s efforts to push sales of the new Suzuki-built Vitz appear to be paying dividends.

Finally, let’s look at a few new nameplates from the market’s biggest brand. The Toyota Vitz – effectively a rebadged Suzuki Celerio that touched down in South Africa in April 2023 to replace the Agya – enjoyed its best month of the year thus far, with 581 units sold in September. The Japanese automaker recently expanded its Vitz line-up by launching new X-Cite derivatives, after earlier cutting pricing by up to R25 000 (depending on the derivative) with a special “deal assist” offer.

In addition, 3 units of the Toyota GR Corolla were sold last month, though supply of this manual-equipped hot hatch to the local market is extremely limited. Finally, a single example of the Toyota Crown crossover was registered, but we should point out the brand isn’t actively marketing the newcomer as its allocation for 2023 has been “cut drastically”.

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