Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

Hyundai ix35

* See the Top 5 best-selling brands by clicking on the title! Many thanks to José *

Thanks to José I can now share with you actual data for 2011 in Angola for the very first time on BSCB as part of The Africa Project. In 2011 the Angolan new car market was up by a huge 32% year-on-year to 23,390 registrations, nearly back to the pre-crisis levels of 2008 and 2009. The passenger car segment accounts for 72% of the total market and grew by 38% in 2011. At this stage there is only a Top 5 brands ranking but this is way better than my YouTube estimations to-date! As we learnt a few months ago, Hyundai is the most popular carmaker in the country but the new news is that it totally dominates the landscape with 5,901 sales and 25.2% share.

Suzuki Celerio

This is nearly double the #2, Suzuki at 3,275 units and 14%, and more than double the sales of Toyota, Hyundai’s big opponent on the African continent, at 2,871 units and 12.3%. Chevrolet and Kia round up the Top 5 brands in Angola. Model-wise, the data is more sparse, but given Hyundai’s domination and based on the traffic in Luanda, I will venture the guess that the Hyundai ix35 is the best-selling model in the country.

Suzuki Jimny

At least we now know that the Suzuki Celerio is #2 with 1,465 sales and 6.3%, the Suzuki Jimny is #5 at 1,080 units and 4.6%, the Chevrolet New Spark at #8 and Chevrolet Spark Lite at #9. An interesting trend in Angola is the emergence of a new middle class that buys practical cars like the ones above along with the Chevrolet Sail, and the proportion of sales going to businesses declining. Most private buyers purchase with cash upfront with only 7% of sales going through bank financing.

Previous post: Angola 2011 (estimation): Mitsubishi L200 and Toyota Hiace solid, Suzuki Celerio, Hyundai ix35 and Kia Sportage impress

Full Year 2011 Top 5 Ranking Table below.

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Mitsubishi L200

* See links to more streets videos by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Pablo *

Two years after my first estimation of the best-selling models in this country, it is time for an update as the Angolan car market is one of the most developed and dynamic in the continent. It has actually become a lot more fragmented in the last couple of years to the point where it becomes quite difficult to estimate the best-selling models based just on the observation of recent YouTube videos of the traffic in the capital city Luanda. But I will try and paint a picture of car sales in Angola that is as close as reality as possible.

It looks like pick-ups still hold a significant market share in the country, and the Mitsubishi L200 could have transplanted the Toyota Hilux as the most popular model in the category.

Suzuki Celerio

Light cars are also very successful, especially the Suzuki Celerio which should find its way onto the models ranking podium. The Chevrolet Spark, Kia Picanto and Hyundai i10 and i20 are also up there. Go up one size up and Kia is king of the roads, with the Soul, Cerato and new generation Rio the preferred choice way above the Toyota Corolla.

Kia Sportage

A large part of new cars are still 4WDs and the Kia Sportage new generation seems to have had an incredible success in the country since its launch almost 2 years ago, along with its cousin the Hyundai ix35. The Suzuki Jimny and Daihatsu Terios are also quite popular.

Toyota Hiace

Larger successful 4WD include the Toyota Fortuner, Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Land Cruiser. Let’s not forget, as Pablo pointed out, the legendary Toyota Hiace which has been repurposed as taxi for a couple of generations already, as well as the odd Toyota Tundra, BMW X6 and Infiniti FX!

Previous post: Angola 2010: Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi L200 top dynamic market

Link to more street videos below.

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* Click on the title for an Estimated Top 15, street videos and street scenes! *

Observation of the streets of the capital Luanda show that the Angolan car market is quite developed, and dominated by the Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi L200. Other very popular cars are the Chevrolet Matiz, Toyota Fortuner, Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Yaris and Chevrolet Aveo.

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