Chinese giants in SA: 1 grew and the other shrunk in 2024
Chery and GWM (including Haval) were again the 2 dominant Chinese brands in South Africa in 2024, but 1 suffered its 2nd straight year of decline. Here are the figures…
Pop quiz: did the 2 dominant Chinese automotive brands in South Africa – Chery and GWM – both register year-on-year sales growth in 2024? Well, while we certainly wouldn’t blame you for responding in the affirmative (China’s sustained rise is a prevailing industry theme, after all), the answer is actually “no”.
Fascinatingly, as we recently discovered when collating 2024’s local sales figures to identify the best-selling automotive companies of the year, 1 of these Chinese giants recorded strong year-on-year gains while the other actually shrunk compared to 2023 – its 2nd straight year of decline, in fact.
Yes, Chery broke into Mzansi’s top 10 for the very first time (over a calendar year) thanks to a 22.4% year-on-year increase in sales – representing the strongest instance of growth inside 2024’s top 10 – climbing 3 places to seize 8th with a total of 19 971 units.
It’s worth keeping in mind this figure excludes sales from Chery Group subsidiaries such as Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour. Were Chery to have added sales from these sub-brands to its total, it would likely have risen a further 2 rankings to 6th, above both Isuzu and Nissan (brands with a local manufacturing footprint).
Nevertheless, the Chery brand’s performance alone saw it grab a 3.9% share of the total market and – rather significantly – overtake chief rival GWM, which held onto 9th place (with its market share idling at 3.7%). Remember, the GWM stable includes sales from the Haval, P-Series, Tank and Ora sub-brands.
In the end, GWM – which has admittedly been in the country for far longer than Chery (the latter returned to SA only in 2021), so perhaps a sales plateau of sorts was to be expected – suffered its 2nd straight year of sales decline, with local registrations slipping 4.9% year on year to 18 927 units. That’s a slightly steeper drop than the overall market’s 3.0% year-on-year fall as well as down from 2023’s tally of 19 904 units, which itself was a considerable 12.1% lower than 2022’s effort.
So, which segments contributed to this fall? Well, over 90% of the automaker’s volume in 2024 was shared between its core 3 models: the Haval Jolion, Haval H6 and GWM P-Series (with the Tank, Steed and Ora nameplates making up the balance). The Jolion again led the charge, with sales of the brand’s most affordable crossover increasing 7.1% year on year to 9 213 units – almost half of GWM’s total.
Meanwhile, the H6 registered a pronounced 25.7% year-on-year decline to end 2024 on 4 218 units. Similarly, sales of the P-Series bakkie – including the super-sized P500 derivatives that launched locally in the 3rd quarter of the year – fell 18.0% year on year to 3 659 units.
With facelifted versions of both the H6 and P-Series imminent, GWM South Africa will be hoping these core nameplates will make up some lost ground in 2025. The Chinese firm’s local division will likely also look to both new and returning badges – such as the H7 and H9, respectively – as well as fresh derivatives in existing ranges (like the upcoming 2.4-litre turbodiesel version of the Tank 300) to put it firmly back on the path to growth…
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