South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars of June 2019

By: CAR magazine

According to Naamsa, June 2019’s new vehicle industry sales came in at 45 939 units, representing a fall of 1,6 percent, year on year. Here’s what happened in the sixth month of the year in the passenger vehicle segment…

As always, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s going on in terms of individual model sales. We’ve already examined the figures and picked out the 10 best-selling bakkies for the month, and now it’s time to do the same with the passenger vehicle market (check out the worst-selling passenger vehicles, too).

Take note that while BMW has started reporting individual model sales figures again, some brands such as German rival Mercedes-Benz continue to provide only aggregate data (Porsche, too, recently followed suit).

So, what happened in June 2019? Well, Volkswagen Polo Vivo remained in top spot, with the Polo hatch again having to settle for second place (for the record, the local arm of the German firm also sold 590 examples of its Polo sedan).

Toyota’s Fortuner, meanwhile, remained in third place, while the Renault Kwid climbed three spots to fourth and the Ford EcoSport three to fifth. The Toyota Corolla Quest returned to the table to take sixth place, while the Datsun Go likewise made a reappearance in seventh, as did the Hyundai i20 in eighth.

The Toyota Etios and Toyota RAV4 each dropped four spots to place ninth and tenth, respectively.

Other bits and bobs

So, what else interesting happened in June 2019? Well, the outgoing 1 Series (281) was BMW’s best seller for the month, eclipsing the 3 Series (240) and locally built X3 (165). The X7 managed 25 units, while the X5 returned 143 registrations. BMW’s new 8 Series range could muster just nine sales, while the Z4 added 12.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles SA managed 137 registrations in total, 26 of which interestingly came courtesy of the Alfa Romeo 4C. Peugeot wasn’t far behind with a total of 116 sales, with the 308 leading the way on 54 units. Subaru ended up on 73 units, while Haval continued its impressive run with 636 registrations for the month.

Besides the EcoSport’s effort in the top ten, Ford also enjoyed steady (if not stellar) contributions from the Figo (356), Everest (291) and Fiesta (216). Only the Amaze (102) made it into three figures for Honda, while the Hyundai’s Grand i10 (572) wasn’t far from breaking back into the top ten. The Tucson (334) and Creta (221) also performed fairly well for the Korean brand, with the Kona adding 45 units.

The new Range Rover Evoque (86) was the most popular offering from Jaguar Land Rover in June, with just two examples of the electric I-Pace – which is reigning World Car of the Year and European Car of the Year – the leaving showroom floors (BMW sold six units of its i3, which is the only other fully electric car offered locally). Kia’s best seller was the Picanto (472), while the KUV100 Nxt (180) accounted for more than half of Mahindra’s passenger vehicle sales.

Mazda’s sales remained steady across all model lines bar the outgoing Mazda3, which fell to 66 units (ahead of the switchover to the new generation, of course), while the CX-3 (332) and CX-5 (301) again performed the heavy lifting for the Japanese firm. Meanwhile, the Eclipse Cross (56) was Mitsubishi’s top seller, pushing the brand to 122 units for the month.

The Micra Active (293), Qashqai (283) and Almera (242) all returned solid months for Nissan, while the X-Trail added 110 units and the latest-generation Micra fell five units short of three figures. The outgoing Corsa (54) proved the most popular Opel in June, while the (also outgoing) Renault Clio managed a strong 563 units. The French firm furthermore enjoyed handy contributions from the Sandero (376) and Duster (308).

Suzuki’s impressive showing in June came largely thanks to the Swift (548), Celerio (249) and Ignis (204). The ES (27) was the best-selling Lexus, with the UX (21) and NX (20) crossovers close behind. Toyota’s Corolla sedan managed 183 units, while the Corolla hatchback ended up on 126. The Avanza (466) and Yaris (417) continued to play strong supporting roles for the Japanese company.

Audi’s A3 Sedan (120) outsold the A3 Sportback (108), while the Q5 added a pleasingly round 100 registrations, and the Q8 (17) again outsold the Q7 (11). For Volkswagen, the Tiguan (401) placed ahead of the Golf (312), while the V40 (61) was interestingly Volvo’s most popular offering.

See the top ten table below (and have a look back at May 2019’s figures here):

South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars of June 2019:

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 571
2. Volkswagen Polo – 1 887
3. Toyota Fortuner – 1 410
4. Renault Kwid – 1 056
5. Ford EcoSport – 819
6. Toyota Corolla Quest – 745
7. Datsun Go – 723
8. Hyundai i20 – 670
9. Toyota Etios – 659
10. Toyota RAV4 – 653

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