New vehicle sales plod along

Less expensive passenger vehicles such as VW Polo Vivo (1799), Ford Figo (977), Renault Sandero (496) and Chevrolet Aveo (471) dominated the lower end of the passenger car market with only BMW 3-Series (797) and Toyota Fortuner (855) representing the upper ends of this market segment.

The light commercial vehicle section was dominated by Toyota Hilux (2741) with the next three top sales positions going to Chevrolet Utility (1375), Nissan NP200 (1340) and Ford Ranger (1322).

Of the new vehicle sales (excluding Mercedes-Benz SA), 90.7 % or 36 671 units represented dealer sales, 4.1% Industry corporate fleet sales, 2.8% to the vehicle rental Industry and 2.4 % sales to Government. Commenting on the April sales figures a spokesman for the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) said sales to car rental companies were expected to improve from June onwards as the car rental Industry started to re-fleet.

New car sales of 29 517 units show reflect an improvement of 3190 units or 12.1 % compared to the 26 327 new cars sold during April 2011. NAAMSA said year to date new car sales remained 9.1% ahead of the corresponding four months of 2011.

Exports of South African produced motor vehicles showed a decline of 11% on April last year.

The outlook for 2012 in terms of total industry sales remained one of modest growth with domestic sales expected to improve by between 8% and 10%.

Top Performing: New Passenger Vehicles

Model - Volume
1. VW Polo Vivo - 1799
2. VW Polo - 1450
3. Ford Figo - 977
4. TOYOTA Corolla - 860
5. TOYOTA Fortuner - 855
6. BMW 3-Series - 797
7. TOYOTA Yaris - 570
8. VW Golf 6 - 519
9. Renault Sandero - 496
10. Chevrolet Aveo - 471

Top Performing: New Light Commercial Vehicles

Model - Volume
1. Toyota Hilux - 2741
2. Chevrolet - 1375
3. Nissan NP200 - 1340
4. Ford Ranger - 1322
5. Isuzu KB - 912
6. Toyota Quantam - 627
7. Nissan NP300 Hardbody - 584
8. VW Amarok - 358
9. Toyota Landcruiser PU - 209
10. Nissan Navara - 178