The SA Vehicle Industry Thread

South Africa’s best-selling double-cab bakkies last month

Which bakkie was the best seller in South Africa’s hotly contested double-cab segment in January 2024? Well, we have the figures for the opening month of the year…

We’ve already brought you our list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies for January 2024. Now it’s finally time to turn our attention to the double-cab bakkie sales race.

Yes, since Naamsa’s monthly sales figures unfortunately don’t include a breakdown of the 3 available bakkie body styles (single cab, extended cab and double cab), we’ve again turned to our colleagues over at Lightstone Auto for help identifying SA’s best-selling double-cab bakkies for January 2024.

As a reminder, though, when all 3 body styles are included, the Toyota Hilux led the charge in January, selling a total of 2 645 units sold last month. The Ford Ranger was 2nd on 1 914 units, with the Isuzu D-Max again taking 3rd with 1 336 units.

 
Suzuki runs VW Group close! SA’s best-sellers in February 2024

South Africa’s new-vehicle market suffered its 7th consecutive month of year-on-year decline in February 2024. But it wasn’t all bad news. Here’s your full overview, including Mzansi’s most popular brands, best-selling cars and more…

February 2024 represented the South African new-vehicle industry’s 7th consecutive month of year-on-year decline. That said, it certainly wasn’t a substantial fall, with the market’s total of 44 749 units reflecting a marginal drop of just 0.9% compared with the same month in 2023.

Furthermore, February 2024’s final tally represented a month-on-month improvement of 7.5% compared with January’s relatively subdued effort of 41 636 units. Exports, meanwhile, recorded what industry representative body Naamsa described as a “sound” year-on-year increase of 27.5% to 39 517 units. So, there’s certainly some positive news, too.

Out of the total reported industry sales in February 2024, Naamsa estimated that 37 913 units (or 84.7%) represented registrations via the dealer channel, while 9.6% were sales to the vehicle-rental industry, 3.4% to government and 2.3% to industry corporate fleets.

In February 2024, Mzansi’s new passenger-vehicle market registered a year-on-year decline of 3.1% to end on 28 857, with rental sales accounting for 12.9% of that total. The country’s light-commercial vehicle segment, meanwhile, once again bucked the industry trend, enjoying a 2.5% year-on-year gain to end on 13 306 units.

 
New vehicle market dips again: these were the 50 best sellers in February 2024

With elections looming, it was anticipated that the first half of 2024 would be a tough one for vehicle sales, and the economy in general.

According to the latest figures released by Naamsa, The Automotive Business Council, February saw a slight decline in new vehicle sales in South Africa. A total of 44,749 vehicles were sold last month, which is a 0.9% decrease over the same month last year.

As has become a trend in the industry, passenger vehicles were the biggest losers, declining 3.1% year-on-year to 29,782 units, while the light commercial and bakkie market saw a gain of 2.5% to 12,978 units. Medium commercials were down 7.7% while the heavies were up by 14%.

84.7% of all vehicle sales took place through the dealer channels, while the rental industry accounted for 9.6% of the pie, followed by government (3.4%) and corporate fleets (2.3%).

50 best-selling vehicles in South Africa: February 2023

1. Toyota Hilux - 3,100
2. Ford Ranger - 2,187
3. Toyota Corolla Cross - 1,959
4. Volkswagen Polo Vivo - 1,861
5. Isuzu D-Max - 1,740
6. Suzuki Swift - 1,627
7. Toyota Starlet - 1,481
8. Nissan NP200 - 1,276
9. Hyundai Grand i10 - 1,263
10. Toyota Hi-Ace - 1,109
11. Volkswagen Polo - 988
12. Chery Tiggo 4 Pro - 964
13. Nissan Magnite - 847
14. Toyota Fortuner - 722
15. Mahindra Scorpio - 715
16. Suzuki Ertiga - 658
17. Toyota Urban Cruiser - 649
18. Suzuki Baleno - 585
19. Haval H6 - 569
20. Kia Sonet - 552
21. Toyota Vitz - 550
22. Haval Jolion - 544
23. Volkswagen T-Cross - 530
24. Renault Kiger - 484
25. Nissan Navara - 449
26. Hyundai i20 - 402
27. GWM P-Series - 378
28. Toyota Corolla Quest - 361
29. Suzuki Jimny - 357
30. Ford Everest - 353
31. Suzuki Fronx - 347
32. Renault Triber - 336
33. Toyota Rumion - 333
34. Suzuki S-Presso - 331
35. Chery Tiggo 7 Pro - 328
36. Volkswagen Amarok - 324
37. Volkswagen Polo Sedan - 322
38. Toyota Land Cruiser PU - 315
39. Suzuki Grand Vitara - 282
40. Renault Kwid - 280
41. Suzuki Ciaz - 259
42. Suzuki Celerio - 252
43. Hyundai H100 Bakkie - 225
44. Chery Tiggo 8 Pro - 212
45. Suzuki Eeco - 197
46. Volkswagen Tiguan - 180
47. Honda BR-V - 160
48. Beijing X55 - 159
49. Volkswagen T-Roc - 157
50. Kia Pegas - 153

 
Having just defleeted 2x 2016 Ford Ranger 2.2 Base single cabs and, in my personal capacity, a 2015 Ecosport, I have picked up a trend.

Anything bought new before 2018/2019, was bought at "value for money" pricing and, as long as they don't have high mileage and they have been looked after, resale value is sky high and not far off the price that was paid since new. Here are some examples:

2x 2016 Ford Rangers. Paid R205k in 2016 // Sold them for R140k each with just short of 100 000km on the clock. FSH, a few dents and marks, but generally easy to recon and put on a used car floor.
1x 2015 Ecosport. Paid R190k in 2015 // Sold for R135k with 85 000km on the clock - FSH and in excellent condition.

You will see the depreciation for all 3 was very low, especially considering they are not Toyota's - they each only lost R55-65k in 8-9years!

After 2018/2019, car prices started escalating quite dramatically......

Take the next Ranger we added to our fleet: 2021 Ford Ranger 2.2 base single cab = R320k! That is an increase of over 100% in 5 years. If we sold one now, we would probably only get R240k, so in 3 years, that is already a depreciation of R80k. In 5 more years, the depreciation is probably going to reach R120-R150k after 8 years of ownership.

Not only have new car prices run away, with that has come a higher depreciation %.
 
10 interesting facts from SA’s February 2024 new-vehicle sales

We’ve combed through South Africa’s new-vehicle sales figures for February 2024 and pulled out 10 interesting facts. Here are your bite-sized new-vehicle nuggets…

February 2024 was another fascinating month for South Africa’s new-vehicle market. Overall, it was the industry’s 7th consecutive month of year-on-year decline, with total registrations falling 0.9% to 44 749 units. But dig a little deeper into the sales statistics and there are plenty of interesting facts to be found.

Yes, while we’ve already covered the big news – such as the fact Suzuki Auto SA cut the gap to the 2nd-placed Volkswagen Group to a mere 112 sales, while the Toyota Hilux continued its domination of the bakkie space – it’s now time to unearth a few fascinating nuggets. Let’s dive right in…

 
Suzuki holds on to second place in SA vehicle sales race

With access to a comprehensive range of affordable vehicles from its Maruti division in India, Suzuki has been setting the sales charts alight in South Africa.

January saw the Japanese brand break through the 5,000 unit barrier for the first time with a record volume of 5,235 units, while also beating the Volkswagen brand for the second time in history.

In February the brand posted an equally impressive total of 5,221 sales while widening the gap even further from its third-placed rival, which managed a volume of 4,915, down from 5,115 in January.

Volkswagen as a group still managed second place overall with a volume of 5,333 units, including Audi sales, but it was still far behind Toyota’s total volume of 11,524 units in February.

Volkswagen’s Polo Vivo consistently reigns as the country’s top selling passenger car model, dominating for the whole of 2023 with 23,904 sales, but February saw it fall behind the Toyota Corolla Cross.

 
FiestaST said:
10 interesting facts from SA’s February 2024 new-vehicle sales

We’ve combed through South Africa’s new-vehicle sales figures for February 2024 and pulled out 10 interesting facts. Here are your bite-sized new-vehicle nuggets…

February 2024 was another fascinating month for South Africa’s new-vehicle market. Overall, it was the industry’s 7th consecutive month of year-on-year decline, with total registrations falling 0.9% to 44 749 units. But dig a little deeper into the sales statistics and there are plenty of interesting facts to be found.

Yes, while we’ve already covered the big news – such as the fact Suzuki Auto SA cut the gap to the 2nd-placed Volkswagen Group to a mere 112 sales, while the Toyota Hilux continued its domination of the bakkie space – it’s now time to unearth a few fascinating nuggets. Let’s dive right in…

Click to expand...
VWSA scoring an own-goal again by discontinuing sales/building/importing an entry-level vehicle (to slot in below the Polo Vivo). The Polo Vivo is priced out of contention, imho, hence Suzuki's current performance - (soon to overtake VWSA too).
 
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