Car sales: These were SA’s most popular models in November

Last month’s interest rate hike of 25 basis points failed to put the brakes on new-vehicle sales in SA, which continued their gradual recovery in November.

Despite the first interest rate hike in three years, and other factors such as sustained load-shedding and consecutive fuel price hikes, sales hit 41,588 last month — marginally higher than the 41,035 in October and a 6.6% increase over November 2020.

The upswing was largely driven by 27,828 passenger cars finding buyers last month, a 9.4% gain over November 2020, while bakkies and light commercials dipped 0.8% to 11,156 units with the Ford Ranger, a major player, undergoing a full model change.

Passenger cars were bolstered by strong demand from the rental industry which accounted for 15.6% of November car sales, said the Naamsa Automotive Business Council.

Medium and heavy truck sales were respectively up by 22.1% and 8.1%.

“New vehicle sales figures for November 2021 show that the market is holding up surprisingly well despite a number of factors we thought would have resulted in a slowdown of new vehicle business,” said Mark Dommisse, Chairperson of the National Automobile Dealer Association (Nada).

Overall, dealers had another good selling month, with Toyota showing the highest growth on units by 1,964 units (19.7%), Suzuki 489 units (18.8%) and Porsche 58 (170%) from the previous month.

“We could see December and January sales demonstrate the negative effect of the arrival of the new Covid-19 variant, as well as the huge increases in fuel prices and the impact of the weaker rand on vehicle pricing,” said Dommisse.

Toyota retained its domestic market leadership last month with 11,892 sales, with the newly launched Corolla Cross becoming SA’s third most popular vehicle in its first month.

Toyota was followed by VW Group (5,498), Suzuki Auto (3,082), Hyundai (2,869), Nissan (2,328), Ford (2,245), Isuzu (2,157), Renault (2,081), Kia (2,062), and Haval Motors (1,730) rounding out the top 10.

SA’s top-selling new vehicles — November 2021

1. Toyota Hilux — 2,558
2. Toyota Hi-Ace — 1,763
3. Toyota Corolla Cross — 1,757
4. Isuzu D-Max — 1,666
5. VW Polo Vivo — 1,608
6. Toyota Starlet — 1,477
7. VW Polo — 1,221
8. Ford Ranger — 1,165
9. Suzuki S-Presso — 926
10. Toyota Agya — 911
11. Renault Kwid — 876
12. Suzuki Swift — 859
13. VW T-Cross — 838
14. Kia Picanto — 729
15. Renault Triber — 719
16. Toyota Fortuner — 701
17. Toyota Urban Cruiser — 699
18. VW Polo Sedan — 669
19. GWM P Series - 655
20. Ford EcoSport — 630
21. Nissan Navara — 617
22. Nissan NP200 — 589
23. Hyundai Atos — 551
24. Hyundai Creta — 525
25. Toyota Corolla Quest — 517
26. Mahindra Scorpio Pik Up — 506
27. Haval Jolion — 468
28. Hyundai Grand i10 — 444
29. Kia Sonet — 439
30. Toyota Rumion — 375