Johannesburg - In days gone by the South African vehicle market was completely dominated by sedans, as was the case across the globe.
Large Valiants and Chevrolets ruled the sales charts in the ‘60s and ‘70s, while Toyota’s Corolla was the flavour of the ‘80s and ‘90s as South Africans downsized.
This century, however, has seen sedans take a back seat to bakkies, hatchbacks and, more recently, SUVs and crossovers, but it’s certainly not game over for the humble booted four-door, with some nameplates still selling in healthy numbers, no doubt boosted by rental companies and ride-hailing operators.
While the Toyota Corolla is no longer South Africa’s best selling vehicle, it is still the most popular four-door and now that Toyota has started listing separate sales figures for the previous-generation model (badged Quest) and the latest version, we now get a better picture of the sedan sales mix in South Africa.
Unsurprisingly, given its lower price tag, the Quest outsells the normal Corolla, with February 2019 sales of 715 units, versus 532.
Next up was the Volkswagen Polo sedan, at 431, while the BMW 3-Series (in run-out phase), Nissan Almera and Hyundai Accent fleshed out the top six.
See the top 15 below:
Toyota Corolla Quest 715Toyota Corolla 532Volkswagen Polo sedan 431BMW 3 Series 297Nissan Almera253Hyundai Accent 201Audi A4 128Audi A3 sedan 127Suzuki Dzire 93Hyundai Elantra67Volkswagen Jetta 48Honda Amaze 46Honda Ballade 44BMW 5 Series 40Lexus ES 24
The slowest sellers
Just missing the top 15 were Suzuki’s Ciaz and Subaru’s WRX, each with 20 sales for the month, followed by Volkswagen’s striking Arteon sedan, of which 18 were sold in February.
Among the slowest sellers were the Volvo S90 (11), BMW 7 Series (10), Honda Civic (10), Lexus IS (4), Alfa Giulietta (3), Audi A6 (3) and Jaguar XF (2).
Keep in mind that Mercedes-Benz sedans could not be included in this list as the company does not report individual sales figures to Naamsa.