Toyota surges ahead with Hilux and Fortuner

Hilux is South Africa’s best-selling new vehicle so far this year, helping to position Toyota for the sixth consecutive month as the country’s most popular automotive brand.

Once again, unabated demand for the all-new, eighth-generation Hilux with 3 072 sales, has placed it ahead in the motoring top five, which includes Toyota stablemate Fortuner (1 405), SA’s best-selling SUV nameplate for the past 10 years.

Sustained demand via both private as well as very robust rental channels for these and other Toyota models has lifted the brand to a market-leading sales total of 9 557 vehicles for the month of June; close to 2 400 units in front of its nearest rival. This equates to a creditable market share of 21,27%.

Toyota’s senior vice president of sales and marketing, Calvyn Hamman, said the combined impact of general economic lethargy, new vehicle price increases, poor consumer confidence and lower finance approvals contributed to a less-than-desirable overall market result but that Toyota is “weathering the storm well”.

“Hilux is well placed to extend its remarkable run of 44 years as SA’s best-selling bakkie and the results reflect the enviable reputation this vehicle has developed for toughness, reliability and – in the context of this latest generation – refinement too.

“Fortuner’s popularity is also very telling. No other SUV comes close to the volumes (1 405) it achieves. RAV4 for example, which currently leads the compact SUV segment, sold 284 units this month. It has to be said though that RAV4 sales have been somewhat hamstrung by supply constraints as demand for this model remains very high,” Calvyn said.

Other notable performers that have contributed to Toyota’s sales success include the Corolla/Auris/Quest triumvirate which achieved sales of 1 300 units; Etios with 1 009 retail units; Quantum with 991 sales and Land Cruiser pick-up which tabled a segment-leading 392 units.

Hino sales for the month equalled the target of 327 units. It was another strong showing for the 300 series in the MCV segment with 205 units sold, only one unit behind the first-placed manufacturer and 27 more units than were sold in May 2016. Hino’s MCV share remains constant at 26.3%.