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 vehicles of January 2020, as well as listed 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 point out that some automakers (such as Mercedes-Benz) disclose only aggregate sales statistics. 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.
In addition, we don’t count sales from run-out stock of vehicles that have been officially discontinued locally (if the vehicle in question is no longer listed on the manufacturer’s local site, we won’t include it in the list below). And we’ve also heeded the call to include model ranges that failed to sell a single unit.
So, what happened in the first month of 2020? Well, the Fiat 500X and Subaru Impreza each failed to register a single unit, while the Abarth 595 range could muster just one. The Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Landwind X5, meanwhile, ended the month on two units apiece.
Opel’s Combo Life, Adam and Grandland X managed three, four and five units respectively, with the Peugeot 2008 and Suzuki Grand Vitara also both ending January on five. The Opel Astra, which will be facelifted in the second quarter of the year, closed the month with seven registrations, while the new Citroën C5 Aircross managed eight and the Fiat Panda nine.
Toyota’s Prius, for the record, no longer features on the list as its starting price is now R508 000.
For reference, see December 2019’s list here.
SA’s 13 worst-selling passenger cars (under R500k) of January 2020:
Fiat 500X – 0
Subaru Impreza – 0
Abarth 595 – 1
Alfa Romeo Giulietta – 2
Landwind X5 – 2
Opel Combo Life – 3
Opel Adam – 4
Opel Grandland X – 5
Peugeot 2008 – 5
Suzuki Grand Vitara – 5
Opel Astra – 7
Citroën C5 Aircross – 8
Fiat Panda – 9
