ROBUST INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO PERFORM AS SALES YEAR ENDS
Despite ongoing political uncertainties and a weak currency, total vehicle sales held up well in November with volumes up to 49,754 units representing a 7.2% (3,357 unit) overall improvement over the previous year.
Courtesy National Automobile Association of South Africa PASSENGER CARS ACHIEVED SOME excellent results with total sales of 32,821 units representing an overall gain of 16.4% (4,614 units). These gains, however, were dragged down by light commercials with sales declining by 7.4% for a total of 14,587.
In the Top 10 category, Toyota continues to lead the pack with 11,441 sales – some 900-odd fewer than in October 2017. Toyota’s achievers were the Hilux, which again took the honours as the overall best seller with 3,243 units sold, the Corolla/Auris/Quest (1,711), Etios (1,541), and Fortuner, which closed on 1,080 sales.
The Volkswagen Group remains in second place overall with 7,438 sales – fractionally ahead of Ford Motor Company on 7,260. However, despite being on run-out with the launch of the New Polo around the corner, Volkswagen still managed to record good figures of the Polo Vivo (1,900) and Polo (soon to slot in as the “new” Vivo) on 1,848 units sold. The Group’s Audi division accounted for 1,071 sales, while the Golf 7 achieved a credible 702 sales. Disappointingly, the classy Tiguan only recorded 336 sales – compared with 747 by Toyota RAV and 494 sales by Hyundai Tucson.
Staying in third place and posing a temporary threat to VW, Ford (7,260) will appreciate strong showings by the Ranger (3,058), EcoSport (1,324), and Fiesta with 1,063 sales.
Nissan (4,692) remains comfortably in fourth place with its commercial vehicles – NP300 (1,465), and NP200 (976) leading the charge. The Navara, unfortunately, failed to attract buyers and only recorded 117 sales. A reality that, also, does not bode well for the soon to be launched Mercedes-Benz X-Class, which is based on the Navara.
Korean carmaker Hyundai slots into fifth place with 3,265 sales, assisted mainly by the i20 (819), Tucson (494), and Creta, which sold 359 units.
Newly renamed Isuzu SA (2,670) takes sixth place with the Opel brand providing 516 sales, the Isuzu KB on 1,499, and the Chev Ute (on runout) with 198 sales.
Mercedes-Benz (2,004) moved up from ninth to seventh, while KIA, which was in seventh overall, slipped down one place with a total of 1,883 – made up by Picanto (903) and Rio (555) sales.
Ninth spot went to Renault (1,825), which moved down one place on the sales ranking. Renault’s achievers were the Kwid (757), Sandero II (263), and Clio IV (200).
The last place in the Top 10 listings went to Mazda (1,162). This Japanese carmaker has not been in the Top 10 before and takes the place of BMW, which only recorded a modest 1,095 domestic sales.
Both Mazda and BMW need to look over their figurative shoulders at a rampant Suzuki, which recorded 1,045 sales and broke through the thousand-unit mark for the first time.
Of the other manufacturers falling outside the Top 10, Porsche sold 101 cars – up from 90 in October, while a selection of Bentley cars went to six new owners. Volvo Cars rallied nicely with 214