The SA Vehicle Industry Thread

These were South Africa’s 30 best selling vehicles for the whole of 2023

South Africa’s new vehicle market ended 2023 on a sombre note with December sales declining by 3.3% year-on-year, the fifth contraction in a row according to Naamsa.

Earlier in the year the market seemed well on track to recover to pre-pandemic levels, but in the last few months the industry buckled under the pressure of various economic hardships, with high living costs, load-shedding and the ports crisis all taking their toll.

South African new vehicle sales for 2023 totalled 532,098 units, which was a 0.5% increase over the 529,556 sales total of 2022, but still a few thousand units short of 2019’s tally of 536,612.

But it wasn’t doom and gloom on all fronts, with the light commercial and bakkie market growing by 11.6% year-on-year.

South Africa’s top-selling vehicles in 2023

1. Toyota Hilux - 37,382
2. Ford Ranger - 24,618
3. Volkswagen Polo Vivo - 23,904
4. Toyota Corolla Cross - 22,592
5. Isuzu D-Max - 18,962
6. Toyota Hi-Ace - 16,465
7. Suzuki Swift - 15,974
8. Toyota Starlet - 15,713
9. Nissan NP200 - 12,721
10. Volkswagen Polo - 11,748
11. Toyota Fortuner - 10,385
12. Chery Tiggo 4 - 10,054
13. Hyundai Grand i10 - 9,829
14. Haval Jolion - 8,604
15. Nissan Magnite - 8,580
16. Mahindra Scorpio PU - 8,063
17. Renault Kiger - 7,725
18. Volkswagen T-Cross - 7,152
19. Kia Sonet - 6,511
20. Renault Kwid - 6,222
21. Suzuki Baleno - 6,004
22. Toyota Urban Cruiser - 5,992
23. Toyota Corolla Quest - 5,832
24. Haval H6 - 5,674
25. Renault Triber - 5,644
26. Hyundai i20 - 5,413
27. Hyundai Venue - 5,156
28. Suzuki Ertiga - 5,150
29. Toyota Vitz - 5,117
30. Suzuki S-Presso - 5,009

 
The Suzuki Celerio launched March 2022. In 12 months it sold 2511 units.
The Toyota Vitz launched end May 2023 and in 7 months it sold 5117 units, despite launching at R15k more.

That Toyota brand loyalty in action.
 
I used to change my wife's car every 2-3 years.

Her current Ecosport turns 9yo next month. The cost of cars now is just mental. I also cannot get my head to agree to new debt via a monthly installment when her car does what is needed of it on a daily basis.

I am sure this thought process is shared by many non-government middle class people in this country as the cost of living continues to sky rocket.

I'd take a solid guess that a large chunk of new passenger car sales are from government employees who care about today only, not the future. This can only go on for so long until that bubble bursts.
 
FlashSA said:
I used to change my wife's car every 2-3 years.

Her current Ecosport turns 9yo next month. The cost of cars now is just mental. I also cannot get my head to agree to new debt via a monthly installment when her car does what is needed of it on a daily basis.

I am sure this thought process is shared by many non-government middle class people in this country as the cost of living continues to sky rocket.

I'd take a solid guess that a large chunk of new passenger car sales are from government employees who care about today only, not the future. This can only go on for so long until that bubble bursts.
Click to expand...
In cases like this I always like to ask the person/oke how much was the retail of the car at the time & now roughly how much will it cost to replace it (like for like ideally).

Now we know the EcoSport is discont & the Puma is positioned higher up the food chain.
 
FiestaST said:
In cases like this I always like to ask the person/oke how much was the retail of the car at the time & now roughly how much will it cost to replace it (like for like ideally).

Now we know the EcoSport is discont & the Puma is positioned higher up the food chain.
Click to expand...
Exactly the problem

Paid R195k for the Ecosport Ambiente in 2015. Just before it was discontinued, a new Ambiente was about R330k or so. 70% jump for the same car but with bluetooth, USB and steering controls but they took away the service plan!
 
The final figures! SA’s best- and worst-selling bakkies of 2023

We’ve sifted through the sales figures, done some maths and identified South Africa’s best- and worst-selling bakkies of 2023. Here’s where your preferred pick-up placed…

Right, with 2023 now firmly in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to tally up the sales figures and identify South Africa’s best- and worst-selling bakkies for the year. For the record, Mzansi’s light-commercial vehicle segment ended 2023 on 151 499 units, representing an encouraging year-on-year gain of 11.6% (bearing in mind the total market was flat at 532 098 units, just 0.5% up on 2022’s effort).

So, which bakkie was the undisputed sales king of South Africa (no prizes for guessing that one)? And which pick-up was the least popular overall? Well, let’s break down the figures from the past 12 months and answer those very questions and more…

Total bakkie sales in South Africa for 2023

1. Toyota Hilux – 37 382 units (+16.1%)

2. Ford Ranger – 24 618 units (+42%)

3. Isuzu D-Max – 18 962 units (+11.1%)

4. Nissan NP200 – 12 721 units (-1.1%)

5. Mahindra Pik Up – 8 063 units (+0.2%)

6. Nissan Navara – 4 596 units (-24.2%)

7. GWM P-Series – 4 462 units (+6.7%)

8. Toyota Land Cruiser 79 – 3 975 units (+13%)

9. Volkswagen Amarok – 3 348 units (+76.6%)

10. GWM Steed – 1 142 units (-74.7%)

11. Mitsubishi Triton – 729 units (+8.3%)

12. Mahindra Bolero – 349 units (-57%)

13. Peugeot Landtrek – 343 units (-19.5%)

14. Jeep Gladiator – 208 units (+73.3%)

15. Mazda BT-50 – 69 units (-56.1%)

 
2023 was a record year for South African vehicle exports - these were the top exports

Despite the well known logistical challenges at local ports, 2023 was a record year for South African vehicle exports.

Naamsa reported this week that manufacturers shipped 396,290 vehicles abroad last year, which was a 12% gain over the 2022 numbers and also 2.4% higher than the previous all-time record of 387,092 vehicles exported in 2019.

The majority of these were passenger car exports, which grew by 7% to 255,430 units, but light commercial and bakkie exports grew by an encouraging 24.7% to 140,061 units.

South Africa’s top vehicle exports: 2023

Volkswagen Polo - 101,468
Mercedes C-Class - 86,754
Toyota Hilux - 71,013
Ford Ranger - 64,872
BMW X3 - 57,423
Isuzu D-Max - 6,385
Nissan Navara - 3,823
Toyota Corolla Cross - 1,745
Toyota Fortuner - 1,613
Nissan NP200 - 332
Toyota Corolla Quest - 86

 
BMW Comfortably Beats Audi and Mercedes In Total Sales for 2023

The three luxury German competitors have revealed their total sales numbers for 2023 and the crew from Munich has taken the top spot.

This is unsurprising as 2023 was the best year ever for BMW after sales rose by 7.3% with 2,253,835 units sold.

With approximately 1.9 million vehicles sold in 2023, Audi trailed behind BMW by over 350,000 units.

The high-performance branch, Audi Sport, shipped around 48,000 units in 2023 whereas BMW M GmbH did over 202,000 but this number includes M Performance cars while Audi does not include anything other than the RS models.

Mercedes-Benz got closer to BMW with 2,043,800 units sold (including Smart-badges cars).

www.zero2turbo.com

BMW Comfortably Beats Audi and Mercedes In Total Sales for 2023

This is unsurprising as 2023 was the best year ever for BMW.
www.zero2turbo.com www.zero2turbo.com
 
NR7 said:
The Suzuki Celerio launched March 2022. In 12 months it sold 2511 units.
The Toyota Vitz launched end May 2023 and in 7 months it sold 5117 units, despite launching at R15k more.

That Toyota brand loyalty in action.
Click to expand...
Looking at those specific cars, which are practically identical): It appears as if locally Toyota has a few demo vehicles on hand (@ ±R179.900, which is considerably less than sticker price) and have them regularly whilst Suzuki have none and won't have any either.
 
Supervan II said:
Looking at those specific cars, which are practically identical): It appears as if locally Toyota has a few demo vehicles on hand (@ ±R179.900, which is considerably less than sticker price) and have them regularly whilst Suzuki have none and won't have any either.
Click to expand...
Can a few demo vehicles account for the sales disparities though?
 
Polo Vivo or Corolla Cross? SA’s 10 best-selling cars of 2023

It was a tight race for the title of South Africa’s best-selling passenger vehicle in 2023, but the winner has been crowned. Here are Mzansi’s 10 top sellers from last year…

In 2023, South Africa’s new-vehicle sales were flat, with the industry experiencing just 0.5% year-on-year growth to end on 532 098 units. We’ve already looked at Mzansi’s best-selling bakkies for last year, so now it’s time to turn our attention to the most popular passenger vehicles.

For the record, the country’s passenger-vehicle segment experienced a year-on-year decline of 4.4%, with 347 695 units registered in 2023, according to Naamsa. That said, just 3 of the models that placed inside the top 10 suffered a fall in sales, with the remaining 7 all reporting (varying degrees of) growth.

South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars in 2023

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 23 904 units (+14.6%)

2. Toyota Corolla Cross – 22 592 units (+42.5%)

3. Suzuki Swift – 15 974 units (-7.6%)

4. Toyota Starlet – 15 713 units (+21.6%)

5. Volkswagen Polo (hatch) – 11 748 units (-25.2%)

6. Toyota Fortuner – 10 385 units (+33.1%)

7. Chery Tiggo 4 Pro – 10 054 units (+117.5%)

8. Hyundai Grand i10 (excluding LCV) – 9 829 units (+55.6%)

9. Haval Jolion – 8 604 units (-5.1%)

10. Nissan Magnite – 8 580 units (+41.5%)

 
SA’s top 10 automakers: 2023’s winners & losers by market share

We’ve crunched the numbers and calculated market share to see which of South Africa’s top 10 automakers grew and which ones shrunk in 2023. Here are your winners and losers…

South Africa’s new-vehicle market was flat in 2023, with sales increasing just 0.5% year on year to 532 098 units. But which of the Mzansi’s mainstream automakers outpaced the broader industry in terms of sales growth? And which ones actually shrunk (and lost market share) compared with their performances in 2022?

Well, we’ve consolidated the sales figures for South Africa’s 10 best-selling automakers of 2023 – and calculated market share, too – allowing us to compare these latest numbers with 2022’s statistics. As such, we’ve identified the winners and losers out of the top 10 companies last year.

As always, we should point out a couple of caveats. For instance, Toyota’s figures include sales under the Lexus and Hino brands, while the Volkswagen Group incorporates Audi registrations. BMW and Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, don’t consistently communicate full sales figures to Naamsa, though – according to the industry body’s estimates – both German firms finished outside of the top 10 anyway.

So, here’s your comprehensive overview of the respective performances of the main players in South Africa’s new-vehicle market. Scroll to the bottom of the story to see the full top-10 list.

South Africa’s 10 best-selling automakers of 2023

1. Toyota – 142 612 units (+8.0%)

2. Volkswagen Group – 67 456 units (-3.4%)

3. Suzuki – 49 438 units (+4.8%)

4. Hyundai – 31 952 units (-11.4%)

5. Ford – 30 710 units (+16.6%)

6. Nissan – 29 158 units (-4.4%)

7. Isuzu – 23 273 units (+9.4%)

8. Renault – 21 703 units (-20.4%)

9. Haval – 19 904 units (-12.1%)

10. Kia – 19 086 units (-16.2%)

 
5 fascinating facts from SA’s 2023 new-car sales figures

We’ve combed through South Africa’s new-car sales figures for the whole of 2023 and pulled out 5 fascinating bite-sized facts. Here’s what you need to know…

With South Africa’s new-car sales figures for 2023 tallied up, our focus has naturally fallen on the vehicles that led the sales charge. Indeed, we’ve already covered South Africa’s most popular passenger cars as well as examined Mzansi’s best- and worst-selling bakkies. Now, it’s time to turn our attention to a few fascinating morsels of information we’ve extracted from the 2023 figures.

Yes, we’ve combed through SA’s new-car sales statistics (as provided to Naamsa) – with a specific focus on the passenger-vehicle market – and selected 5 interesting titbits that jumped out at us. Let’s take a closer look…

 
These were the top selling premium car brands globally and in South Africa in 2023

What is the best premium car brand in the world?

That is of course a subject of widespread debate, across the internet, bar counters and braai fires alike. But when it comes to buyers voting with their hard-earned cash, BMW takes the lead once again.

According to figures released by the top three premium automotive companies, BMW was the world’s best-selling premium brand across the world in 2023, with 2,253,835 propeller-badged cars finding homes, up 7% on the previous year. The BMW Group as a whole sold 2,555,341 units if you include the 295,474 Minis and 6,032 Rolls Royces.

In second place was Mercedes-Benz, which managed to move 2,043,800 passenger cars globally in 2023, while group sales, including vans, amounted to 2,491,600.

Audi achieved third place with an approximate 1.9 million vehicles sold, up an impressive 17% over 2022, while Tesla took fourth place with just over 1.8 million sales, according to Automotive News Europe.

 
SA’s best-selling double-cab bakkies of 2023

Ford Ranger or Toyota Hilux? Which nameplate was the best seller in South Africa’s all-important double-cab bakkie segment in 2023? Well, we have the final figures!

You’ve likely already had a read of our list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies for 2023. But what exactly happened in the double-cab bakkie sales race?

Since Naamsa’s monthly sales figures unfortunately don’t include a breakdown of the 3 available bakkie body styles (the single-, extended- and double-cab shapes), we’ve again turned to our colleagues over at Lightstone Auto for help identifying SA’s best-selling 1-tonne double-cab bakkies for 2023.

Before we share these figures, let’s take a step back and consider what the overall picture – that is, including all body styles – looked like in 2023. Based on Naamsa’s figures, the Toyota Hilux won the overall race, with sales increasing 16.1% to 37 382 units. The Ford Ranger (up 42% to 24 618 units) was 2nd and the Isuzu D-Max (up 11.1% to 18 962 units) finished 3rd.

 
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