The monthly Naamsa stats generally make for rather interesting reading. But, naturally, we tend to focus on the best-performing vehicles in terms of sales.
Indeed, we’ve already reported the 10 best-selling passenger cars of March 2017, as well as listing the 10 best-selling bakkies in our market for the same period.
But now we’ve decided to take a look at the worst-selling passenger car models on our shores. Of course, we must bear in mind that certain importers – such as Hyundai and Kia – do not submit individual model sales figures, instead only disclosing aggregate sales stats. Mercedes-Benz, too, has taken a similar stance in recent times, while BMW SA also recently joined the non-reporting party.
Also, take note that – in order to make this list more relevant – we’ve excluded vehicle ranges that start at more than R500 000. Otherwise, this table would be dominated by luxury manufacturers such as Bentley, Ferrari and Maserati, whose high-priced vehicles traditionally sell in tiny numbers. We also don’t count the sales from run-out stock of vehicles that have been discontinued locally (you can see some examples below).
So, what happened in March 2017?
Well, just a single unit of each of the Ford B-Max, Ssangyong Korando and Tata Manza was registered over the month, while the Abarth 595, Infiniti Q50, Volkswagen Beetle (although a facelift is on the way towards the middle of the year) and Volvo V60 each managed two.
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta added just three units, while the Ford Fusion, Tata Vista and Volkswagen Scirocco mustered just four apiece. The Toyota 86 (with a facelifted version set to be launched locally this month) sold five units, as did the Volkswagen Golf SV.
Some of the discontinued models we didn’t take into account include the Mahindra Quanto (1), Peugeot 3008 (1) and Renault Megane III (one, as opposed to 44 fourth-generation models).
For reference, see February’s list here.
South Africa’s 13 worst-selling passenger cars (under R500k) of March 2017:
Ford B-Max – 1
Ssangyong Korando – 1
Tata Manza – 1
Abarth 595 – 2
Infiniti Q50 – 2
Volkswagen Beetle – 2
Volvo V60 – 2
Alfa Romeo Giulietta – 3
Ford Fusion – 4
Tata Vista – 4
Volkswagen Scirocco – 4
Toyota 86 – 5
Volkswagen Golf SV – 5
Also read:
- 5 biggest engines on South Africa’s new car market
- 7 most expensive SUVs on SA’s new vehicle market
- 50 best-selling vehicles in the world in 2016…
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- 6 most powerful naturally aspirated new cars in SA
- 5 cheapest new cars in SA with 200 kW or more
- 5 most powerful manual cars you can buy new in SA
- 5 of the most blatant copycat cars out of China
- 5 cheapest automatics on SA’s new vehicle market
- South Africa’s 5 cheapest vehicles with low-range
- 5 biggest gas-guzzlers on SA’s new vehicle market
- 5 most fuel-efficient cars we’ve recently tested
- 7 most fuel-efficient non-hybrid petrol cars in SA
- 5 most fuel-efficient non-hybrid diesel cars in SA
