The salesmen have sold, the accountants have accounted and just 10 days into 2013 the people who sell ‘people’s cars’ are buoyed by the news that they were the market leaders of passenger cars in the bumper year that was 2012.
This is the fourth consecutive year that Volkswagen Group South Africa has topped the sales charts in the local passenger car market. The Volkswagen Group South Africa sold 107 689 units in 2012. Of the 99 106 passenger vehicles, 82 363 were Volkswagens and 16 743 were from Audi. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles sold 8 583 units. This gives the Volkswagen Group an overall passenger car market share of 22.3%.
The Polo Vivo sold 34 873 units and the Polo sold 28 667 units throughout 2012. Both models are locally produced and both models accounted for the 14.4% of the total passenger car market in 2012. That equates to 174 Polos or Polo Vivos sold on average, every day, in South Africa last year.
During December 2012, passenger car sales increased by 7.6% when compared to sales last year. In 2012, a total of 439 997 new passenger cars were sold in the South Africa. The overall market, including commercial vehicles was up to 623 914 units for the year, an improvement of 9.2%. The passenger market, which grew by 11.3% when compared to 2011, was the second largest on record after the 2006 peak. Total vehicle exports grew by 3.5% to a total of 269 461 vehicles in 2012.
Over in the red corner, Toyota South Africa is staking claim to 33 years of overall market leadership with 121 276 sales in 2012. This figure includes their tally of Toyota Hilux commercial vehicle sales. Should Toyota Hilux sales be included in the passenger car market? It’s a point that’s up for debate and we can see strong arguments both in favour of it and against it.
Before we get too precious with our sales figures however, let us not forget that in the blue corner, the ever-improving Korean importers still don’t make their sales figures available to NAAMSA (National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa), so what their final, exact sales total was for 2012 is really anyone’s guess.
What is remarkable however, is that vehicle buyers now have a choice of over 2 100 models from more than 60 vehicle brands; a phenomenon that is unique to the diverse South African market. Who will come out on top in 2013? It will be a titanic struggle for sure, but hang in there because we’ll be able to tell you in exactly 12 months from now.
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