New vehicle sales in South Africa are under increased pressure, with total volumes falling some 9,5% to 46 146 units in August 2016 (year-on-year). Passenger car sales remained weak in August, too, with a 13,1% decline overall, and an 18,1% drop through the dealer channel.
Still, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s happening in terms of individual model sales. We’ve examined the figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), and picked out the ten best-selling passenger vehicles for the month (find the 10 best-selling bakkies here and the 12 worst-selling passenger cars here).
One 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 August 2016, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo kept its spot at the top of the table. The regular Polo, though, reclaimed second spot after losing it to the Ford Fiesta in July. Toyota’s combination of the Corolla, Auris and Corolla Quest (the brand reports an overall figure rather than individual model sales) climbed up two places to third.
The Toyota Fortuner held steady in fourth, while the Toyota Etios moved up one place to fifth. The aforementioned Fiesta thus fell all the way back down to sixth, just ahead of its EcoSport sibling (which stayed in seventh).
The Renault Sandero retained eighth position, while the BMW 3 Series returned to grab ninth. The Toyota RAV4 closed out the table, forcing the Volkswagen Golf (363) off the list.
Other interesting snippets from the month include the fact that Bentley sold seven units of its Bentayga. Jaguar, interestingly, sold more F-Types (9) than XFs (8), but also managed to move 52 F-Pace units.
The CX-5 was easily Mazda’s best performer, with 344 units sold in August. Overall, Porsche (93) sold more vehicles than Peugeot-Citroën (85), Subaru (70) and the Fiat-Chrysler Group (50) during August 2016, while Volkswagen Up! sales came in at 149 units. Ford, meanwhile, could manage just 194 Figo units.
See the top ten table below (and have a look back at July’s figures here):
South Africa’s 10 best-selling passengers cars of August 2016:
1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 702
2. Volkswagen Polo – 2 105
3. Toyota Corolla/Auris/Quest – 1 351
4. Toyota Fortuner – 1 235
5. Toyota Etios – 1 188
6. Ford Fiesta – 1 069
7. Ford EcoSport – 1 033
8. Renault Sandero – 607
9. BMW 3 Series – 509
10. Toyota RAV4 – 475
Also read:
- 5 bakkies we think South Africa would go crazy for
- 5 of the most blatant copycat cars out of China
- 5 big bakkies South Africa might want but can’t have
- 5 most expensive double-cab bakkies in South Africa
- 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
