South Africa May 2014: Toyota Corolla & Renault Sandero up

Renault Sandero (Armenian model shown)

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Vic *

The South African new car market is showing no sign of recovery, down another 9% year-on-year in May to just 49 465 units which brings the year-to-date total to 255,736 sales, down 5% on 2013. One of the reasons for this decline – apart from the economic slowdown that affects the country – is the rise of new car prices, up 7% over the First Quarter of 2014 while used cars depreciated a little. In the manufacturer ranking, Toyota leads the race with 9,378 sales ahead of Volkswagen at 8,358, Hyundai/Kia at 5,441, Ford at 5,217 and General Motors at 5,008.

Toyota Corolla

Model-wise, the Top 4 is unchanged on April and year-to-date with the Toyota Hilux in pole position at 2,637 units and 5.3% share followed by the VW Polo Vivo (5%), VW Polo (4.7%) and Ford Ranger (4.1%). Excellent month for the Toyota Corolla up 4 spots on April to #5 whereas the Toyota Etios is down 3 to a lowest-ever #10. Note the previous generation Corolla remains on sale in South Africa, renamed Corolla Quest. Notice also the Mercedes C-Class up a further 3 ranks to #12, the Renault Sandero up 5 to #18 thanks to the new model, the Ford Ecosport maintaining itself inside the Top 20 at #19 and the Nissan Qashqai up 15 to #24.

Previous month: South Africa April 2014: Ford Ranger and Ecosport strong

One year ago: South Africa May 2013: VW Polo passes old mate Polo Vivo

Full May 2014 Top 50 models Ranking Table below.