South Africa Top 50 Models : 2018

If we ignore the strong selling pick-up trucks and stick to cars, then VW comes out one and two. They are both the same model, but the Vivo is an older version. Both are amazingly popular. Then moving down the rest of the list, it is quite a mixture. The colours represent country or region of origin, and by looking at the key to the right of the chart, it becomes clearer.

Japan is the leading

Mauitius Passenger Car Sales : 2018

The picture has nothing to do with cars, but who cares? It looks great


The statistics here is for passenger cars only. It's not easy to interpret the data because of how it is made available but it is private cars and SUVs. The number reached this year was 8,328, a smidgen over 2017 and a record. In fact the total this year nearly double 2010.

Kia held on to top easily enough but Hyundai had

South Africa Passenger Car Sales : 2018

Total sales were about the same in 2018 than 2017 so on the surface it seemed uneventful. Looking on the list and it was anything but. It was the first full year without GM and Ford sales were well down. Mercedes Benz and Audi were in the same boat as Ford. Renault, Nissan and Suzuki were going the other way, up with much gusto.

If light trucks are added, then Toyota wins hands down but as

RSA / Turkey JLR Comparison : 2010-16

There isn't much in car sales volume to separate these two nations, with the RSA just over 550,000 units and Turkey about 625,000 sales. After that things change. Premium brands are much more popular in South Africa so for JLR to be similar in both nations would require JLR to overachieve in Turkey.

South Africa. LR is a strong brand here and takes 88% of JLR sales. It takes over 1% by itself

Ireland / Morocco JLR Comparison : 2010-16

Not countries you would normally link together but the size is similar, Ireland's average 117,000 and Morocco's 126,000. Morocco's data includes all LR sales whereas Ireland's is mainly light commercial and I slipped them across. This ended up giving the data a very even look about it.

Ireland: Jaguar has always been a bit of a solid seller here, but LR has been the growth model. Some of

VW South Africa : Anyone For Polo?

VW is the best selling passenger car brand in the RSA. Its success is based around two models,  - or one - depending on how you define it. The company runs the Polo model plus the previous generation model named the Polo Vivo. Between then they take 77.5% of all the brand's sales! That is a very unusual proportion for one model, even if it is achieved with two generations.

VW hasn't always

Nissan South Africa : Holding Its Own

For the last decade and a half, Nissan has been averaging just over the 4% mark for market share in the RSA. It's still around there but maintained only with the recent help of its sub-brand Datsun. As mentioned in others in this series, there is a market here for budget model cars and Nissan has been able to accommodate those customers.

In the last few years as sales in the RSA have

Land Rover South Africa : Trying Times

Land Rover has enjoyed disproportionate success over the years in the Republic. Rural expanses in often arid conditions are what we think of and that picture is true to a point. Of course, many Land Rovers are used mainly as urban vehicles like in most countries but if required, they are suitable for off road trekking.

Considering sales that exclude commercial sales of the Defender model, LR

Toyota South Africa : Business As Usual

Toyota is a big player in the RSA. For passenger cars #2, but add light commercial vehicles and it is comfortably numero uno. Car demand here is a mix of standards, both better and lesser quality have a market. Doing both is what achieves the best results as many including Toyota do.

Some models you may be unfamiliar with.

The Etios is the second best seller in the range and it is a small

Honda South Africa : Flying Under The Radar

Honda is a company that eschews discounting and relies on its products to sell at a price they deem reasonable. For that reason mainland Europe hasn't been a happy hunting ground for the marque, along with its conservative image. In Asia Honda is very much in demand as too North America. In the RSA, it is a fringe player that has carved out a modest niche for itself.

Back in 2001, the brand

Renault South Africa : On The Up

The Renault Sandero Stepway


This French brand has had its ups and downs in the RSA, but is currently on the up. I believe it was as high as 5% market share in 2001 but fell away after that, to just 1.3% in 2008. It picked up again recently so what is 'doing it' for the brand? Let's look at sales by best selling models for 2016.

Sandero: A compact sized Dacia car sold under the Renault logo

Ford South Africa : A Success Story

Way back in 2002, Ford had fallen to the 12th ranked passenger car brand in the RSA. Since then, it gradually clawed its way up to 3rd by 2014, where it has stayed since. The market share in '02 was 2.2% and by 2016, was 11%. So what has Ford been doing right?

It sources models that are sold in mature markets as well as for emerging ones. The RSA is an mixture of such customers so Ford has

RSA Premium Comparison : 2010-16

Premium cars are proving popular in many nations. They are often outselling cheaper mainstream brand while at the same time making more profit. More recently the most aggressive attack on this segment have been the BAM marques, BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz. However other car makers are striking back and the competition is heating up. So a look at sales in this decade would be interesting.

First

Mauritius Car Sales By Brand : 2010-14

Toyota Mauritius in a celebratory mood


In the Indian Ocean lies the Republic of Mauritius. sales data is not that easy to come by but can be found with some effort. 2012 is missing a small amount of data, hence the higher 'Others'. Kia came roaring to the front over this period but was nearly pegged back by Toyota in 2014. Nissan too is going well but with sales on the up, good news stories

Car Sales Morocco: 2011

Data from this North African country are as rare as hens teeth, so we take what we can get. The top ten as below:

1 Dacia 22,356
2 Renault 19,145
3 Peugeot 11,244
4 Ford 7,351
5 Hyundai 6,950
6 VW 5,947
7 Citroen 5,770
8 Toyota 4,726
9 Kia 4,683
10 Fiat 4,027

Premium brand sales:

BMW 1,336
Mercedes 1,320
Audi 1,289
Alfa Romeo 379
Land Rover 374
Volvo 320
MINI 205
Jaguar 100
Porsche 98

Car/LCV Sales RSA: 2011

I earlier published car sales for South Africa, and someone asked about including Light Commercial Vehicles too. So here it is. The first set of figures are LCV sales only. Toyota is the top brand by far. AMH do not release figures by brand.

1 Toyota 52,423 10%
2 Nissan 22,825 3%
3 GM 18,303 17%
4 Ford 14,746 1%
5 Isuzu 13,228 22%
6 VW 8,759 205%
7 Mazda 3,772 -2%
8 Mitsubishi 1,559