July was a mixed month for South Africa’s new vehicle market, which grew by 1.3% versus the same month last year, according to Naamsa.
But while the bakkie and LCV market grew by an impressive 32% - read more about that here - the passenger car market fell by 9.7% year-on-year.
Last month also saw the leaderboard shuffled, with the Volkswagen Polo Vivo regaining its top spot with a healthy volume of 2,117 units, while June’s top seller, the Toyota Corolla Cross, came third with 1,801 sales.
The Suzuki Swift moved up a spot to second, with 1,809 sales, which was a 7.35% improvement over the previous month. Of these, 865 Swift units were sold into rental fleets, versus 692 in the case of the Polo Vivo.
The Toyota Starlet took fourth overall in the passenger car race, completing the hatchback podium with 1,187 sales, and placing it ahead of the Volkswagen Polo (924).
The SUV runner up, and sixth overall, was the Haval Jolion. 833 of these well-priced Chinese SUVs found homes in July, placing it ahead of the Nissan Magnite (798), Toyota Fortuner (730) and Chinese compatriot Chery Tiggo Pro 4 (693).
Passenger Vehicle Sales Ranking: July 2023
- 1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo - 2,177
- 2. Suzuki Swift - 1,809
- 3. Toyota Corolla Cross - 1,801
- 4. Toyota Starlet - 1,187
- 5. Volkswagen Polo - 924
- 6. Haval Jolion - 833
- 7. Hyundai Grand i10 - 825
- 8. Nissan Magnite - 798
- 9. Toyota Fortuner - 730
- 10. Chery Tiggo 4 Pro - 693
- 11. Renault Kiger - 590
- 12. Suzuki Ertiga - 568
- 13. Hyundai i20 - 549
- 14. Volkswagen T-Cross - 536
- 15. Hyundai Venue - 509
- 16. Toyota Corolla Quest - 455
- 17. Renault Kwid - 446
- 18. Suzuki Baleno - 436
- 19. Haval H6 - 412
- 20. Chery Tiggo 7 Pro - 398
- 21. Suzuki S-Presso - 392
- 22. Renault Triber - 385
- 23. Toyota Urban Cruiser - 382
- 24. Kia Sonet - 360
- 25. Suzuki Grand Vitara - 351
- 26. Ford Everest - 317
- 27. Volkswagen Tiguan - 315
- 28. Toyota Vitz - 301
- 29. Chery Tiggo 8 Pro - 284
- 30. Toyota Rumion - 254
Toyota was the top-selling passenger brand overall in July, with 5,740 total sales, and it was followed fairly closely by Volkswagen, at 5,270, and Suzuki with 4,147.
Hyundai (2,556) and Renault (1,686) were fourth and fifth, while Chery (1,375), Haval (1,245), Kia (1,214), Nissan (892) and BMW (883) rounded out the top eight.
Given the tough economic times we’re living in it’s not surprising that eight of the top 10 passenger car models have a starting price of under R350 000.
Wesbank marketing head Lebo Gaoaketse said South African consumers are still very keen on buying a new car but that affordability was becoming more important than ever.
“While the impacts of inflation and interest rates are harder felt in bigger capital debt, such as home loans, vehicle affordability continues to be of concern to the motor industry and consumers’ sheer ability to be active in the new vehicle market,” Gaoaketse said.
However, he warned that there is only so much affordability consumers can find in the new car market by downscaling to more affordable products
“The base cost of entry is now at a level that begins to make an impact on the type of customer the industry can attract,” Gaoaketse concluded.
Also read: Spending R250 000 on a new car? These are five great options
However, general inflation appears to be easing, which allowed the Reserve Bank to put interest rate hikes on hold in July, Naamsa’s CEO Mikel Mabasa pointed out.
“The unchanged rates and improvements in inflation rates bodes well for the car market as the second largest household investment cost for many South African consumers, considering the stressed
borrowing patterns amongst households as debt service costs share of disposable income remain high at 8.4%, on average,” Mabasa said.