Ford scores biggest as new vehicle sales dive in August

After three months of small to marginal increases, South Africa’s new vehicle sales ended August in the red with its biggest monthly decrease of the year so far.

Top five of bakkies

While the Toyota Hilux kept its crown as the country’s best-selling vehicle with sales of 3 309 units, its arch rival, the Ford Ranger, registered its biggest uptake since the unveiling of the new generation T6.2 with its tally 2 367 placing it third behind the Volkswagen Polo that mustered 2 453.

ALSO READ: Suzuki Swift and Chery biggest surprises of July vehicle sales

South Africa’s perennial top three best-selling bakkies completed August present in the top five with the Isuzu D-Max finishing fifth behind the Toyota Corolla Cross with sales of 1 632 versus 2 130.

Sandwiching the Indian-sourced Toyota Starlet (1 372) and Suzuki Swift (1 349), the Toyota HiAce and Volkswagen Polo completed the locally flavoured top 10 best-selling models with respective offsets of 1 581 and 1 153, with the outgoing Nissan NP200 ending 10^th on 1 118.

Month in details

Attributing the first decrease since April to rising living costs and less disposable income, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) recorded total figures for August of 45 679 units, 3.1% down from the 47 155 moved 12 months ago.

Surprisingly, only one of the five segments contracted, namely a 6.7% drop in the sales of new passenger vehicles from 31 015 to 28 951.

Elsewhere, light commercial vehicle sales rose 2.7% from 13 289 to 13 652, while medium-duty commercial vehicles ended the month on 702 units, 0.3% more than last year’s 700. Finally, heavy-duty commercial vehicles posted a 10.4% gain from 2 151 to 2 374.

Providing the biggest improvement though, new vehicle exports dramatically increased by 33.5% from 31 057 to 41 462.

“The weak performance of the passenger car market reflected the impact of rising costs of living and lower disposable income on consumer sentiment and the ability to be active in the new vehicle market,” Naamsa said.

“Affordability along with delayed replacement cycles appear to be driving new vehicle sales. On the positive side, the significantly less daytime load shedding since June 2023, interest rates that were put on hold in July 2023 for the first time since November 2021 and inflation now firmly falling within the 3%- 6% target band, have been providing some relief for consumers.”

The association, however, also warned that energy and logistical constraints remain binding on the domestic economic growth outlook, limiting economic activity and increasing costs.

Shake-up in best-selling brands

Out of the 10 best selling brands, the top three of Toyota, Volkswagen and Suzuki remained unchanged with sales of 12 233, 5 972 and 4 332 respectively, while Ford displaced Hyundai to place fourth with sales of 2 724 compared to 2 637.

Completing the remainder of the top 10 were Nissan (2 377), Isuzu (2 045), Haval (1 819), Renault (1 750) and Kia (1 550).

August Top 50 Best Selling Cars

NOW READ: June vehicles sales a 1-2 for Toyota as Hilux leads Corolla Cross