Sales utility vehicle: Popular models, such as the Land Cruiser, helped to keep Toyota’s trade figures high.
November was a busy month for the South African auto sector, with brands battling it out on the sales charts.
The automotive industry recorded 45 075 new vehicle sales during the month. When compared to the 49 986 sales registered during November last year, the figure represented a decline of 9.8%, despite the best marketing efforts of the reporting brands.
The drop-off in sales can be attributed to the logistical problems at the country’s ports and across the freight rail network, as well as the return of stage six load-shedding.
According to National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa chief executive Mikel Mabasa, the challenges will have a devastating domino impact on the entire automotive value chain.
“All new vehicle market segments declined, with a boost coming from the export side. The November 2023 vehicle market declined by 9.8% and recorded 45 075 registrations compared to the 49 986 vehicle registrations recorded in November 2022,” confirmed Mabasa.
Winning the race: Toyota South Africa, which produces the Hiace and the Corolla Cross, topped sales figures in most vehicle segments in South
Speaking about new vehicle sales, Toyota South Africa continued to top the charts in most segments, selling a total of 6 551 passenger cars, 5 042 light commercial vehicles as well as 231 medium commercial vehicles last month.
Slotting into second position in the passenger car segment was the VW Group with 4 945 units. Suzuki Auto SA claimed third position with 4 201 units moved from showroom floors.
Behind Toyota in the light commercial category is Ford SA with 2 349 units and Nissan SA in third place with 1 554 units.
The folks at Isuzu SA finished second in the medium commercial fold with 153 units, while Mercedes-Benz SA slotted in the third position with 104 sales last month.
In October, the automobile industry as a whole witnessed a dynamic sales performance, with the Toyota Group taking the lead, selling a total of 11 891 vehicles from all segments.
Not far behind, the VW Group made a significant impact with 5 513 vehicles sold.
Suzuki also made its mark, selling 4 368 vehicles. Meanwhile, Ford SA and Nissan ended the month with 2 910 and 2 779 vehicles sold, respectively.
Winning the race: Toyota South Africa, which produces the Hiace and the Corolla Cross, topped sales figures in most vehicle segments in South
Toyota’s resilience was for the most part driven by the marque’s popular models such as the Hilux bakkie (3 073 units), Corolla Cross (1 766 units), Hiace (1 549 units) and Starlet (1 176 units).
Last month’s aggregate export sales continued in line with general industry expectations and increased by 25.5% to 41 660 units, compared to the 33 207 that were reported in November last year.
Light commercial vehicle exports, which increased by an impressive 72% to 16 066 units, supported the export market growth.
Each of these manufacturers is making great strides in their sales efforts, contributing to some optimism in the market.