Recently refreshed Volkswagen Polo Vivo has displaced the Toyota Hilux as the country's best-selling vehicle for November. Image: Volkswagen
South Africa’s new vehicle sales remained on the upwards trajectory in November by recording its best month of the year so far at nearly 50 000 units.
Equally as a big surprise was the unsettling of the Toyota Hilux as the country’s monthly best-seller by the Volkswagen Polo Vivo for the first time since May last year when the Ford Ranger placed it above its arch rival.
Raking-up sales of 2 999 units, the Kariega-built Vivo bettered the Prospecton-assembled Hilux by 297 units, with the latter’s Durban-manufactured stablemate, the Toyota Corolla Cross, finishing third on 2 655 followed by the Silverton-produced Ranger on 2 248.
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Taking fifth, the new Suzuki Swift finished the month as the best non-locally produced vehicle on 1 766, followed by Isuzu D-Max as the fifth and final South Africa-made model on 1 764.
Completing the rest of the top 10 in an even split between local and imported vehicles, the Hyundai Grand i10 finished seventh above the Toyota Starlet on 1 395 versus 1 238.
The Chery Tiggo 4 Pro, meanwhile, ranked above the Great Wall Motors (GWM) Haval Jolion as the top-selling Chinese vehicle, with sales of 1 191 compared to 1 062.
Citing the second consecutive month of sales increase to lower interest rates following the Reserve Bank’s dropping of the repo rate of 25 basis points, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) posted sales of 48 585 for November, an improvement of 8.8% over the 44 927 vehicles moved 12 months ago.
Despite this, individual segments ended on yet another negative note, with only passenger vehicle sales ending in the black with an uptake of 20% from 29 525 to 35 101.
After shedding over 10% in October, light commercial vehicles decreased even further in November with a downturn of 16.3% from 12 937 to 10 827.
Significantly smaller but still in negative territory, medium-duty commercials lost 9.2% to settle at 699 from last year’s 770, while heavy-duty commercial vehicles dropped by a scant 0.5% from 1 968 to 1 958.
Continuing to take the brunt, though, exports nosedived by 28.6% from November 2023 to 42 641 to 30 431.
“In view of the stronger year-end performance, new vehicle sales were now only 3.5% below the corresponding period 2023, but unlikely to return to the pre-pandemic level after four years in 2024,” Naamsa said in a statement.
“Further interest rate cuts in the new year would support vehicle affordability across all the various segments”.
Out of the 10 best-selling brands, the top three continued unchanged for a third straight month, with Toyota placing first on 12 106, Volkswagen second on 6 321 and Suzuki third on 6 004.
The next six positions also remained as is from October; Ford fourth on 3 071, Hyundai fifth on 2 940 and Isuzu sixth on 2 061.
Taking seventh and eighth places respectively were Chery on 2 006 and GWM on 1 847.
Rounding out the top 10, Kia kept its ninth place with an offset of 1 662, this time ahead of a returning Renault with 1 505.
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