- Hilux continues to lead local sales
- Domestic market shows resilience
| Market segment | Jun 2013 | Jun 2014 | % change |
| Passenger vehicles | 37,372 | 35,355 | -5.4% |
| Light commercial vehicles | 13,935 | 14,556 | 4.5% |
| Medium commercial vehicles | 1,051 | 942 | -10.4% |
| Heavy commercial vehicles | 492 | 457 | -7.1% |
| Extra Heavy commercial vehicles | 1,142 | 1,417 | 24.1% |
| Bus | 96 | 110 | 14.6% |
| Vehicle exports | 24,219 | 24,024 | -0.8% |
| Overall market (local) | 54,088 | 52,837 | -2,3% |
The Toyota Hilux remains South Africa’s top-selling vehicle, with 2,933 bakkies finding a home during June – this impressive achievement from the brand’s stalwart contributed to Toyota’s overall market leadership. The company recorded 9,825 sales in a stronger performing domestic market – this is 18.6% of the 52,837 total units sold in South Africa. From an export perspective, Toyota contributed 5,456 units (22.7%).
In its second month available to the South African public, Toyota’s affordable Corolla Quest recorded 1,009 sales; while the ever-green Toyota Quantum recorded another strong performance for the brand with 1,153 units sold. Fortuner also achieved positive sales growth with 806 recorded sales; while the 11th generation Corolla continues its success with 960 units sold.
“The modest decline of 2.3% in overall domestic sales compared to June 2013 shows great resilience in a tough market marred by slower economic growth and exchange rate induced new vehicle price increases,” says Calvyn Hamman, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Toyota South Africa, adding that the industry forecast of 630,000 units remains plausible.
“The upward trend in particularly the Extra Heavy Commercial vehicles as well as Light Commercial vehicles bodes well for the remainder of the year. Having said that, however, economic pressure remains and consumers remains cautious to incur additional debt in the light of imminent interest rate hikes,” he says. Hamman points out that there has also been a move towards used vehicles which can be attributed to price increases on new vehicles and the availability of good quality used vehicles at an affordable price.
From an export perspective, the market showed a positive recovery compared to May 2013 in which a 40% decline was experienced due to run-out production on key export models. “With continuous exchange rate pressures, export remains a key area of the automotive business,” says Hamman.
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