Although beaten by Hilux in the overall race, the Toyota Corolla Cross was SA’s best-selling passenger vehicle in February.
MOTOR industry authorities predicted slower growth for the South African new vehicle market in 2023, and the second month of the year delivered exactly that.
According to the Automotive Business Council (Naamsa), vehicle sales totalled 45,352 units in February, 2023 representing a modest increase of 2.6% versus the same month last year.
Things were somewhat sluggish on the passenger vehicle front, which saw 1.1% year-on-year growth, this in spite of strong support from the rental industry, which gobbled 12.2% of the sales’ pie.
On the sales charts, the recently upgraded Toyota Corolla Cross emerged as the nation’s most sought-after passenger vehicle, with 1,683 units finding homes.
The Volkswagen Polo Vivo followed in second (1,513), beating the Suzuki Swift (1,367) and Toyota Starlet (1,311).
The rapidly-growing Chery brand made it into the top five last month, with its Tiggo 4 managing a volume of 962 to put it ahead of the Volkswagen T-Cross (889). Here’s how the rest fared:
South African car and SUV sales ranking: February, 2023
The light commercial vehicle and bakkie market showed stronger growth in February, climbing 5.5% year on-year to 12 289 units, and this was no doubt due to the launch of the new Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max in 2022.
While the recently up-specced Toyota Hilux led the way with 3,335 sales, the Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max enjoyed better than usual months with respective sales of 1,806 and 1,747 units. The Nissan NP200 (1,292) and Mahindra Scorpio Pik-Up (844) rounded out the top five.
South African bakkie sales ranking: February, 2023
As you would have expected, Toyota sold the most vehicles overall last month, with a grand total of 11,230, more than double the 4,726 units sold by second-placed Volkswagen, while Suzuki came home third with 4,309 sales, ahead of Nissan (3,172) and Hyundai (2,715).
While the overall new vehicle sales performance in South Africa was mildly positive, it was a slow month for exports, with year-on-year sales slowing by 11.5% to 34,352 units.
While Naamsa is forecasting a year-on-year growth of 6.3% for the domestic market, the industry body warns that South Africa, like much of the world is still in the midst of a high-inflation cycle, while household incomes continue to shrink in relative terms.
National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) chairperson Mark Dommisse said it was difficult to predict how the country’s vehicle market would perform for the remainder of 2023, as there were many factors influencing the spending patterns of both consumers and businesses.
“The energy crisis and ongoing load shedding will drastically impact consumer confidence as the year goes on, but the market has proved its resilience for the past three years, and NADA believes there is still growth potential,” Dommisse said.
Naamsa also noted that morale within the motor industry was low following the 2023 Budget Speech, in which Treasury failed to announce any kind of support programme for the manufacturing of new energy vehicles in South Africa.
IOL Motoring