New vehicle sales in South Africa are under increased pressure, with total volumes falling some 14,3% to 47 399 units in September 2016 (year-on-year). Overall, out of the total reported industry sales, an estimated 38 342 units or 80,9% represented dealer sales, 14,3% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3,4% represented industry corporate fleet sales and 1,4% sales to government.
In short, it doesn’t look good (although WesBank says we may just be at the bottom of the cycle).
Still, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s happening in terms of individual model sales. So, 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 (also, check out the 10 worst-selling passenger cars here and the 10 best-selling bakkies 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 September 2016, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo stayed at the top of the pile, with the regular Polo again slotting into second. Likewise, Toyota’s combination of the Corolla, Auris and Corolla Quest (the brand reports an overall figure rather than individual model sales) held steady in third.
The Ford Fiesta, meanwhile, climbed two places to fourth, pushing the Toyota Fortuner down one to fifth. The Ford EcoSport also jumped a spot (to sixth) forcing the Toyota Etios down two places to seventh.
The Renault Sandero retained eighth position, while the Toyota Avanza made a surprise appearance on the list in ninth, leaving the BMW 3 Series to round out the table (one spot down on last month). That means there’s no place for the Toyota RAV4 (345) this month.
Other interesting snippets from September’s stats include the fact that Datsun managed to sell 126 units of its new GO+ (in addition to 318 GO hatchbacks), while Mahindra moved 130 units of its KUV100.
The BMW X5 (110), meanwhile, was the German brand’s top-selling SUV, beating out the X3 (106), X4 (78) and X6 (33). The Ford Figo – once a top-ten regular – could manage just 217 units, or 139 less than the Focus. The Everest weighed in with 103 units, as opposed to the 27 managed by the Chevrolet Trailblazer.
The Chevrolet Spark just missed out on a top-ten place, selling 424 units in September, with the Opel Mokka (100) the only other passenger vehicle product from General Motors to crack three figures for the month.
Interestingly, the soon-to-launch Honda BR-V also made an appearance in the stats, with 20 units registered in September. Honda’s top performer, however, was the Jazz (162). Mazda’s solid performance continued, with strong efforts from the CX-5 (342), Mazda3 (271) and CX-3 (228).
The Volkswagen Up! recorded an impressive total of 418 units, while four Audi R8 units were registered in September. Peugeot-Citroën could sell just 80 cars over the month, which means it was outperformed by the likes of Porsche (101), Tata (102) and Fiat-Chrysler (98).
See the top ten table below (and have a look back at August’s figures here):
South Africa’s 10 best-selling passengers cars of September 2016:
1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 822
2. Volkswagen Polo – 2 426
3. Toyota Corolla/Auris/Quest – 2 061
4. Ford Fiesta – 1 190
5. Toyota Fortuner – 1 180
6. Ford EcoSport – 987
7. Toyota Etios – 947
8. Renault Sandero – 625
9. Toyota Avanza – 572
10. BMW 3 Series – 487
Also read:
- 5 double-cab bakkies that make the most torque…
- 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
