18 new cars launching in South Africa in the coming months

·16 Apr 2023

Although several new cars have already hit the local market so far in 2023, car enthusiasts still have a lot to look forward to in the coming months, including new bakkies, hybrids, hatchbacks, and battery electrics.

So far in 2023, South Africa has seen the introduction of new and improved vehicles such as the new Mahindra Scorpio, VW Amarok, Ford Ranger Raptor, BMW X1, Renault Captur, Proton Saga, and Haval Jolion S and HEV.

On top of these, the new Chery Omoda C5 and The Nissan X-Trail, hit the showroom floors as recently as 13 and 14 April 2023 with price tags starting at R448,000 and R649,900, respectively.

According to TopAuto, this year has also seen some notable upgrades to already available vehicle models, such as the VW Polo Vivo GT, Hyundai Palisade, Fiat 500X, Toyota Corolla Cross, and Toyota Hilux, which all received updates to their range either in the form of a facelift or by adding new features as standard.

On the other hand, however, 2023 has also been the year in which some models will be discontinued. These cars include the Hyundai Atos, Kia Rio, Ford EcoSport, Suzuki Vitara Brezza, and Toyota Urban Cruiser.

Despite the exits of the Suzuki Vitara Brezza and Toyota Urban Cruiser, both brands will be introducing new premium crossover versions to replace them. These will be the Suzuki Grand Vitara and the Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder.

This list of the new cars launching soon also includes a new bakkie from Renault called the Oroch, while BMW will also be launching its most affordable electric BMW in the country – the iX1 – with a starting price of R1,140,000.

Other battery-electric cars expected to launch in South Africa include the Volvo C40 recharge and the GWM Ora Cat (which is expected to be the cheapest fully-electric standard car to come on sale in the country).

The cheapest new car coming to South Africa so far will likely be the Toyota Vitz, which is another version of Suzuki’s Celerio.

The Vitz will go on sale at a starting price of R189,900.

The most expensive car on this list is the all-new BMW XM SUV, with a starting price of R3,400,000.

The SUV will have a plug-in hybrid powertrain consisting of a 4.4-litre turbocharged V8 engine working in tandem with a 25.7kWh battery and electric motor.

The combustion engine is already capable of 360kW and 650Nm, but combined with what BMW describes as an “exceptionally powerful” electric motor, this power output is raised to a staggering 480kW and 800Nm, said TopAuto.

The XM will do 0-100km/h in 4.3 seconds and continue up to an electronically-limited top speed of 250km/h.

18 new cars still to come to South Africa in the first quarter of 2023 are listed below.

Toyota Vitz