Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: South Africans Buy Into Low-Cost Or Premium

Matt Gasnier
by Matt Gasnier

Over the last few weeks we traveled to South Korea, Sweden, Canada and Romania. It’s been a while since we haven’t been to Africa, so this week I have decided to stop in South Africa.

If lions, rhinos and zebras are not exactly your thing, that’s ok, I’ve prepared 159 additional countries for you to visit in my blog, so click away!

South Africa is a production hub, and this has an impact on the best-selling cars there, on either side of the scale…

The South African market is in great shape in 2011: in November it is up 11 percent at 49,499 registrations and up 16 percent year-to-date at 526,223 units. Toyota and Volkswagen are masters in South Africa with the first one grabbing a 23.1 percent market share in November and the second one at 15.2 percent. Both brands produce in the country and the majority of their models sold in South Africa are produced there. They even export roughly half the amount they sell.

For Mercedes and BMW it’s a different story. The two German brands are respectively 6th and 7th in the manufacturers ranking, a very high position in itself, but interestingly they both export exactly twice as much as what they sell in the country.

As a whole, South Africa currently exports vehicles to over 70 countries, mainly Japan (around 29% of the value of total exports), Australia (20%), the UK (12%) and the US (11%).

Now to the best-selling models which is, as you know, my specialty.

Thanks to the new generation recently arrived in dealerships, the Toyota Hilux has reclaimed the title of South Africa’s best-selling vehicle it held since 2008. With 4,335 sales and an outstanding 8.8 percent share of the market in November, it even lodges the best score from any model in the last 7 years, and possibly ever but my data is not exhaustive enough to be able to affirm this with 100 percent certainty. Still, an amazing performance that augurs well for the new generation Hilux’s career in South Africa.

Now having the Toyota Hilux as the best-selling vehicle is far from extraordinary I hear you say, and you would be right given South Africa is estimated to be the 33rd country to be in that position. But with such a strong penetration it is up there with Thailand (where it is produced) as one of its strongest markets in the world.

Holding the pole position for most of 2011 and up until last month but now down to 2nd place, the VW Polo Vivo is an interesting exercise in low-cost by Volkswagen, a similar one to what Nissan is doing with the Tsuru in Mexico. Up until 2010, VW South Africa kept the first generation Golf, yes the one dating back from 1974, in the catalog with continued success. It was renamed the CitiGolf and ranked within the Top 10 during all these years with only minor changes due to its low price.

As the new generation VW Polo arrived in 2010 , VW stopped the CitiGolf production and kept the old gen Polo, a raging success in the country already (#1 in 2006 and 2007), in the catalog, renaming it Polo Vivo.

And it worked, even better than the CitiGolf in its time. The Polo Vivo was the best-selling model in South Africa for most of 2011’s first half…

…with the new generation Polo taking the 3rd spot!

Toyota is also strong in passenger cars, placing the Corolla/Auris #4.

Ford is also trying a low-cost solution in South Africa (as well as India) with relative success, placing the Figo, basically a stripped down previous generation Fiesta, #6 year-to-date.

Illustrating the low-cost/premium paradox in South Africa, the Mercedes C Class holds an impressive 7th place year-to-date in South Africa, nearly as high as in Germany, perhaps because South Africans have access to premium models at … relatively low-cost, having them produced there.

The BMW 3 Series ranks #10 so far this year.

South Africa November 2011 Top 30

PosModelNov%1Toyota Hilux4,3358.8%2VW Polo Vivo2,2704.6%3VW Polo1,8553.7%4Toyota Corolla/Auris1,7573.5%5Opel Corsa Utility1,5283.1%6Toyota Fortuner1,2222.5%7Toyota Quantum1,2102.4%8Isuzu KB1,0992.2%9Nissan NP2001,0962.2%10Chevrolet Aveo9922.0%11Ford Figo9651.9%12BMW 3 Series8251.7%13Mercedes C Class8251.7%14Nissan NP3008141.6%15Toyota Yaris7891.6%16Ford Bantam7601.5%17Nissan Micra6581.3%18VW Amarok5551.1%19Nissan Juke5261.1%20Renault Sandero5251.1%21VW Golf5201.1%22Ford Fiesta4420.9%23Ford Ranger3720.8%24Chevrolet Cruze3680.7%25Chevrolet Spark3660.7%26Toyota Avanza3560.7%27Mazda BT-503520.7%28BMW 1 Series3490.7%29VW Jetta3390.7%30Chevrolet Optra3310.7%

South Africa Year-To-Date 2011 Top 30

PosModel2011%1Toyota Hilux33,9476.5%2VW Polo Vivo32,1776.1%3VW Polo22,3904.3%4Toyota Corolla/Auris17,7873.4%5Opel Corsa Utility16,1263.1%6Ford Figo14,1942.7%7Mercedes C Class13,3302.5%8Isuzu KB12,1772.3%9Nissan NP20011,3202.2%10BMW 3 Series11,0612.1%11Toyota Fortuner10,5752.0%12Toyota Quantum9,8591.9%13Toyota Yaris9,3371.8%14Chevrolet Aveo8,2341.6%15Ford Bantam7,4311.4%16Chevrolet Spark6,9021.3%17Nissan NP3006,8971.3%18Chevrolet Cruze6,7701.3%19VW Golf6,6131.3%20Ford Ranger6,4271.2%21Renault Sandero6,2661.2%22Ford Fiesta5,8831.1%23VW Amarok5,5831.1%24Audi A44,8260.9%25Nissan Micra4,0690.8%26Toyota Avanza3,7590.7%27Nissan Qashqai3,7160.7%28Mazda BT-503,3760.6%29Honda Jazz3,3080.6%30Audi A32,9380.6%

Now for the little nugget: South Africa is proving to be one of the most welcoming countries (with Japan, Finland and France) for the Nissan Juke: already #19 for its second month of sales in the country.

And there you go, just like that you have become an expert in South African car sales…

You’re most welcome.

You can see the Top 80 best-selling models in South Africa in November 2011 here.

You can see monthly reports for South Africa in 2011 here

You can see South African historical data up to 1973 here

Sales figures are sourced from NAAMSA.

Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.

Matt Gasnier
Matt Gasnier

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  • Beerboy12 Beerboy12 on Dec 05, 2011

    Something not mentioned here is that cars in South Africa are not cheap by any standards. Gas prices are high ($10 US / gallon), Insurance is high and credit is also expensive. It's an interesting market because a large portion of the population can't afford a car, those that can are forced into the budget area due to high costs.

  • Grrr Grrr on Dec 05, 2011

    Crime is another factor in car sales, particularly of luxury cars. There are yards all around the country of cars that were stolen and crashed, many of which will not make it back onto the roads.

  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
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