Toyota Hilux remained the country's best-seller, but with lower sales than in August. Image: Toyota
Having recorded its first monthly decrease in August after three months of straight uptakes, South Africa’s new vehicle sales recorded its biggest drop of the year in September with a downturn of 4.1% from 47 984 units in 2022, to 46 021 in 2023.
In an unchanged top seven, the Toyota Hilux kept its position as the country’s top seller, but with a decrease in sales from 3 309 in August to 3 429 in September.
Taking up station in second, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo (2 698) placed ahead of the Ford Ranger (2 413) and Toyota Corolla Cross (2 259), with the Isuzu D-Max finishing fifth on 1 639 versus the 1 462 recorded by the sixth place Toyota HiAce.
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After taking eighth place in August, the Suzuki Swift swapped places with the Toyota Starlet to finish September as the best-selling non-locally made model in seventh with sales of 1 291 versus the latter’s 1 247.
Unchanged from August, the Volkswagen Polo remained ninth with 1 148 examples moved, while the same applied to the outgoing Nissan NP200 that finished 10th on 997.
Aside from the overall monthly decrease, the figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) showed a largely negative skewed picture across the various segments with new passenger vehicle sales dropping 8.4% from last year’s 32 392 to 29 669.
Also ending the month in the red, medium-duty commercial vehicles ended 5.1% lower on 871 versus 915, while exports reversed the gains of August’s uptake by dropping 12.6% from September 2022’s to 41 464 to 36 247.
Heading the other way though, light commercial vehicles increased by 4.6% from 12 588 to 13 169 and heavy-duty trucks and busses by a substantial 10.5% from 2 133 to 2 356.
“Although the South African Reserve Bank maintained the repurchase rate at 8.25% in September 2023, the automotive industry continues to grapple with concerns over consumer affordability,” Naamsa said.
“The most recent SARB report indicates a 0.3% contraction in household consumption expenditure, with household debt surpassing household disposable income by 62.5% in the second quarter of 2023.
“Additionally, the industry faces potential upward pressures stemming from an elevated inflation outlook, fluctuations in the exchange rate, rising fuel prices, and increased energy costs”.
The association, however, also added, “in September, StatsSA reported that the manufacturing and finance industries were the core drivers of GDP growth in the second quarter of 2023, recorded at 0.6%.
“Motor vehicles, parts and accessories, and other transport equipment grew by 9.5%, contributing 1.0% to the GDP. This demonstrates that, despite the less favourable economic prospects, the outlook for the South African vehicle market in 2023 remains distinctly optimistic”.
Out of the 10 best-selling brands, the top seven from August remained unchanged with Toyota placing first on 12 704 ahead of Volkswagen (6 316) and Suzuki (4 478), while Ford kept station in fourth on 2 807 ahead of Hyundai (2 665) and Nissan (2 310).
Placing eighth behind Isuzu’s 1 990, Kia improved two places from August with 1 703, while Renault swapped places with Haval to finish ninth on 1 702 versus 1 532.
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