Toyota once again posted the best sales performance in March, garnering a dominant 20% market share, to further entrench its leading position in the SA automotive sales race.
- Toyota leads vehicle sales in March
- Hilux is SA’s best-seller
| Market segment | March 2014 | March 2015 | % change |
| Passenger vehicles | 36,644 | 35,548 | -3% |
| Light commercial vehicles | 15,933 | 16,808 | 5.5% |
| Medium commercial vehicles | 1,015 | 1,104 | 8.8% |
| Heavy commercial vehicles | 485 | 578 | 19% |
| Extra Heavy commercial vehicles | 1,261 | 1,306 | 3.5% |
| Bus | 102 | 105 | 2.9% |
| Vehicle exports | 24,659 | 34,147 | 38.5% |
| Overall market (local) | 55,440 | 55,449 | 0% |
The long-term market leader delivered 11,047 new vehicles during March, driven by a healthy demand for Hilux which once again took top honours as SA’s best-seller with a total of 3,625 units sold for the month (31% of the 1-ton bakkie segment); 518 units ahead of its closest rival. Other top performers from the brand include the Corolla/Quest combination, holding the C-segment lead at 37% with 1,745 units sold; while the Fortuner secured its Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment leader position with close to 900 units finding a home during March.
On the Truck front, Hino South Africa celebrated a record sales month with 523 Hino and Dyna trucks being sold – this translates into 16,9% share in the overall truck market and an exceptional performance in the Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) segment where the brand boasts a 30% market share.
“Our performance up till now proves that Toyota has an even firmer grip on its long-term position as the best-selling automotive brand in the country,” says Calvyn Hamman, Toyota South Africa’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “More impressive is the fact that this has been achieved in the face of increased competition, much of which has been directly targeted at Toyota.
“While the increase in the investment-led medium and heavy truck segments which posted gains of 8.8% and 7.6% respectively shows a confidence in the country, the decline in passenger segment shows a level of caution with the wider car-buying public – this can be attributed to uncertainty around fuel prices, interest rate increases and vehicle price increase,” says Hamman, adding that Toyota remain cautiously optimistic about the 630,000 sales forecast for 2015.
On the vehicle financing front, March 2015 saw new Toyota finance applications increase by 6% over the 6-month rolling average and 16% month-on-month; while new finance application year to date are up by 8% year-on-year and show and increase of 10% if compared to March 2015.
“Toyota dealer generated finance applications for passenger, LCV and used cars processed by Toyota Financial Services increased 13% month-on-month,” says Marius Burger, CEO of TFS.
