JOHANNESBURG - Following a tumultuous July that was marred by civil unrest, the South African new vehicle market showed some encouraging signs of recovery in August.
A total of 41 425 vehicles were sold last month, Naamsa reported, and it was passenger cars that led this growth, gaining 40% year-on-year, largely thanks to a rebounding rental industry. Light commercial vehicle sales grew by just 3.6% versus August last year.
Although LCVs were down overall, the Toyota Hilux was still by far the best-selling vehicle in South Africa last month, accounting for 3335 sales, according to WesBank. The Toyota Hiace emerged as the second best selling light commercial, with 1361 sales, followed by the Isuzu D-Max. Interestingly, for the first time in recent memory the Ford Ranger was not in the LCV top three, and this appears to be as a result of the upgrades that Ford is making at its Silverton plant as it gears up to produce the next-generation Ranger.
In the passenger car race, the Volkswagen Polo enjoyed a strong sales month with 2563 units finding homes, WesBank reported, and this in spite of a facelifted model being on the horizon for early 2022. The Volkswagen Polo Vivo was SA’s second best-selling car in August, with 1724 units, followed by the Toyota Starlet, with 1203 sales.
Footnote: As much as we would love to provide you with a more comprehensive list of best-sellers, Naamsa unfortunately no longer releases the full list of individual sales figures to the media.
In terms of manufacturers’ overall sales, Toyota managed to sell over 10 543 vehicles in August, followed by Volkswagen (6930), Nissan (3332), Hyundai (2749) and Suzuki (2470).
According to WesBank marketing head Lebogang Gaoaketse, the outlook for the remainder of 2021 looks positive, providing that there are no further lockdown restrictions or other unforeseen factors.
The finance institution said that demand for vehicle finance was currently sitting at levels equivalent to or above those experienced prior to the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. However, the global semiconductor chip crisis is resulting in a situation where demand is outstripping supply.
“Between the challenges of the pandemic, micro-chip shortages affecting international production – and therefore import supply to South Africa – and the prevailing market conditions that have simply hampered the free supply of certain models, the new vehicle market is poised to capture growth opportunities while trying to keep up,” Gaoaketse added.