These 7 hatchbacks all cost around the same amount: R220,000

On Dec 5, 2021

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Toyota was once again the best-selling car brand in South Africa in November – followed by German automaker VW and fellow Japanese giant Suzuki.

New vehicle sales in November 2021 increased by 2,573 units (6.6%) when compared with November 2020, to a total of 41,588 units, data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa showed.

The passenger car market, at 27,828 units, was 9.4% ahead of the same month last year.

Following Toyota’s 11,892 new vehicles sold in the month was VW, with 5,498 units sold in November.

Suzuki gained two spots to third in November, with its sales improving to 3,082 units, while Hyundai and Nissan made up the top five places.

US carmaker Ford jumped several spots in November – from ninth to sixth place, while Isuzu also made up several places to seventh, from 1oth in October.

Renault moved up from sixth in October to rank eighth in November, with Kia moving from seventh to ninth.

“New vehicle sales figures for November 2021 show that the market is holding up surprisingly well despite a number of factors that we thought would have resulted in a slowdown of new vehicle business,” said Mark Dommisse, Chairperson of the National Automobile Dealer Association (NADA).

The figures are indicative of the positive direction the market has been taking this year. There were improvements in all market segments in terms of sales at the dealer level when compared with the statistics in November 2020.

“This is far better than we had expected, particularly with the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and Southern Africa being placed on a travel Red List by many countries. In fact, the going rate for new vehicle sales actually kicked up at the end of the month,” said Dommisse.

November aggregate sales of 41,588 units were 6.6% above the figure a year ago with a 1% growth of 603 units month on month. Overall, dealers had another good selling month, with Toyota showing the highest growth on units by 1,964 units (19.7%), Suzuki 489 units (18.8%) and Porsche 58 (170%) from the previous month, he said.

Dommisse pointed out that 84.2% of sales going through the retail channel is encouraging with a small drop off in rental at 11.4% from the previous month however with an impressive 15.6% of passenger car sales.

“We could see December and January sales demonstrate the negative effect of the arrival of the new COVID-19 variant, as well as the huge increases in fuel prices and the impact of the weaker rand on vehicle pricing. Dealers will need to be focussed and
resourceful during what will be a testing sales period, but consumers can expect some special offers as manufacturers and distributors seek to meet annual sales targets,” Dommisse said.

BusinessTech looks at some of the vehicles on offer from the leading carmakers in the popular hatch market, at an affordable price of around R220,000.

VW Polo Vivo Trendline 1.4 5-speed manual