Toyota has dominated new vehicle sales in South Africa during December 2020, according to the latest Naamsa figures.
The national automotive association said that Toyota South Africa sold over 10,000 new vehicles during the month.
In a separate statement, Toyota South Africa confirmed the strong performance and detailed which models sold best during the period.
“Toyota registered its highest ever [light commercial vehicle] market share in 2020 – 41.9%, courtesy of the marque’s segment stalwarts Hilux and Hiace,” it said.
“In December alone, Toyota recorded a market share of 45.7% in the segment, which translates to 4,939 out of the 10,161 vehicles sold by the company last month.”
“As many as 3,233 Hilux and 1,221 Hiace models found new homes in December.”
Other Toyota vehicles which sold well in December were:
- Starlet – 1,126
- Corolla Quest – 1,004
- Fortuner – 942
- Avanza – 400
Sales for 2020
Toyota said that despite the strong performance in December, the news was “bittersweet” – due to the impact of Covid-19 and national lockdowns on the automotive industry as a whole.
“With the local automotive industry posting its lowest total in 18 years, the cumulative total of vehicles sold in 2020 was 380,449 – some 29.1% below the 536,612 aggregate registered in 2019.”
“This massive drop in sales can be directly attributed to a host of Covid-19-related restrictions implemented last year. The local motoring industry was particularly badly hit in the months of April and May when the country was under hard lockdown.”
Toyota said it sold a total of 90,129 vehicles in 2020. The last time the company sold under 100,000 units in a year was in 2009.
Its sales numbers for the year can be broken down as follows:
- Passenger – 40,970
- Light Commercial – 46,526
- Medium Commercial – 1,635
- Heavy Commercial – 998
This translated into a market share of 23.7% for the year.
Sales numbers
The Naamsa table below provides a breakdown of the new vehicle sales figures by brand for December 2020.
Toyota comfortably took top spot, while second place was taken by VW, which sold 6,139 vehicles during the month.
Ford took third place with 3,510 units, while Hyundai and Nissan took fourth and fifth respectively.
It must be noted that:
- BMW South Africa reports sales information quarterly.
- Mercedes-Benz South Africa figures are estimates.
Keyword: The best-selling car brands in South Africa