Exports of built-up vehicles and automotive components from South Africa boomed in 2010, with vehicle exports up an encouraging 36,9 per cent from 174 947 units in 2009 to 239 465 units last year. The bulk of which was destined for countries outside of the African continent. Exports into African countries accounted for only 44 691 units, which was an increase of only 5 per cent on the situation a year earlier.
Volkswagen retained the lead it had built up over arch-rival Toyota for the full year, with its export volume of 76 877 units equating to a 32 per cent share of the total SA vehicle export market. This was 2,5 times higher than its exports in 2009 and 14 173 units more than Toyota exported. At the end of 2009 Toyota had beaten Volkswagen by 23 787 units with its total of 55 598 units shipped.
It was a close run battle for third, with Mercedes-Benz SA’s total of 38 913 units being sufficient to see off rival BMW by a scant 707 units. The only other two exporters of substance, Ford and Nissan, also had a keen scrap, with Ford’s total of 10 950 units edging out Nissan’s total by 1 710 units.
The United States remained by far the most popular destination for SA manufacturers, taking 58 370 units, made up of Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3-Series cars. The United Kingdom took 39 885 units, made up of Volkswagen Polos and Toyota Hiluxes, while the next-biggest markets were Japan, Australia, France and Germany.
Toyota remains the dominant player in the African market, shipping 28 942 units, which accounted for more than 68 per cent of total built-up vehicle exports from SA into African countries. This was, however, 7 per cent lower than the situation a year previously. Nissan is the only other maker with reasonable export volumes into the continent, with its volume growing by 13 per cent to 8 301 units, and its market penetration increasing by 3 per cent to 19,5 per cent.
Algeria is the biggest market in Africa by far, taking 11 757 Toyota and Nissan pick-ups, while the only other big market was Nigeria, which took 7 151 made-in-SA vehicles.
Two South African companies set new export records in the last quarter of 2010: Mercedes-Benz shipped a record 3 280 C-Classes to the US in November, while Volkswagen set its own benchmark a month later when 3 141 units were loaded on a ship bound for Europe. The cargo was made up of Polos and CrossPolos, with the Uitenhage plant being the only global supplier of the CrossPolo model. Included in the Mercedes-Benz shipment was another milestone vehicle in the form of the 100 000th C-Class to be shipped to the United States from the East London wharf.
