The Mahindra XUV 3X0 has emerged as October's biggest surprise seller. Image: Mahindra
In a reversal of two months’ consecutive decreases, South Africa’s new vehicle sales recorded its first positive uptake since July in spite of exports remaining negative.
Despite the rise, the country’s proverbial best-seller, the Toyota Hilux, again saw its figures dip below 3 000 units with a total offset of 2 793.
While second and third places remained unchanged from September, with the Volkswagen Polo Vivo outranking the Ford Ranger by 2 297 versus 2 217, the Toyota Corolla Cross inched back to fourth place as the only other vehicle to break through the 2 000 mark on 2 104.
Completing an otherwise locally assembled top five and indeed top 10, the Isuzu D-Max fell a notch to fifth place with sales of 1 807, while the Volkswagen Polo jumped two places from September to settle at sixth on 1 425 units sold.
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An all-imported affair completes the rest of the top 10, with the Toyota Starlet ranking above its Indian countryman, the Hyundai Grand i10, the new Suzuki Swift and the Suzuki Fronx, with sales of 1 358 versus 1 348, 1 179 and 1 109, respectively.
Lower down, the Renault Kwid recorded its showing in recent months with 934 units finding homes, while the likely introduction of the new sub-R300 000 base LS model has seen Kia shifting 787 Sonets compared to September’s 445.
Providing the biggest surprise, the newly launched Mahinda XUV 3X0 registered 592 sales to finish just ahead of the Hyundai Exter, which saw a 101 unit improvement from last month to 544.
Also out of the top 20, the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro also had one of its best months to date with 525 examples sold.
Attributing the improvement in numbers to the series of fuel price reductions and lower consumer inflation, the October figures by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) show an increase of 5.5% from last year’s 45 418 to 47 942.
Besides passenger vehicles, though, the rest of the various segments all ended in the red, with the former’s 14.5% hike from 29 897 to 34 228 being the only highlight.
Going the opposite way, medium-duty commercial vehicles shed 10.1% from 799 to 718, while heavy-duty trucks and buses lost 7.1% to settle at 2 187 compared to the 2 355 of 12 months ago.
Largest hit, light duty commercial vehicles dropped by 12.7% to 10 791 from 12 367, with the mentioned export slump amounting to a hefty 42.6% from 2023’s 23 342 to 17 324.
“The stronger performance in the new vehicle market in October 2024 bodes well for signs of the new vehicle market slowly turning. Positive indicators of further potential growth include an easing in annual consumer inflation for a fourth consecutive month to 3.8% in September, the lowest level since March 2021, when the rate was 3,2%,” Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa said in a statement.
“In addition, petrol prices were at the lowest point in nearly three years, creating some breathing space for households.
“Consumers and businesses could also look forward to a start of an interest cutting cycle over the next 18 months, which cumulatively would begin to positively impact some level of relief in expensive debt and provide a stimulus to market sentiment.
“Although the immediate effects of these positive signs were still relatively small, the cumulative impact and momentum going forward would hopefully translate into stronger new vehicle sales in the medium to long term,” Mabasa concluded.
Out of the 10 best-selling brands, the top three continued unchanged from September, with Toyota finishing October on 11 891 ahead of Volkswagen’s 6 340 and Suzuki’s 6 006.
Having been leapfrogged by Hyundai last month, Ford retook its fourth place in October with an offset of 2 965 versus the South Korean brand’s 2 913.
While Isuzu kept its sixth place with a record of 2 251, Chery again jumped arch rival Great Wall Motors (GWM) to finish seventh on 1 831.
GWM’s 1 796 saw it fall to eighth place and only marginally ahead of the 1 736 posted by Renault.
Returning to the top 10 at the expense of Nissan was Kia, whose 1 508 placed it of the Japanese brand that fell to 12th behind 11th place Mahindra.
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