South Africa February 2015: Toyota Hilux edges out Ford Ranger

The Toyota Hilux is just 19 units above the Ford Ranger in South Africa this month. 

* See the Top 10 best-selling manufacturers and Top 100 models by clicking on the title *

The new vehicle market is up 1% year-on-year in February to 52,368 registrations, a score almost identical to January sales (52,306), with the year-to-date total itself almost identical to that of a year ago at 104,674 vs. 104,848. Toyota remains the most popular manufacturer in the country even though its market share slips two percentage points on January to 19.4%. It is followed by the Volkswagen Group at 16%, Ford at 12.1%, Hyundai-Kia at 11.2% and General Motors at 9.1%.

2nd consecutive month inside the South African Top 10 for the Ford Ecosport.

The race for the models pole position was extremely tight this month and it involved two pickups: the Toyota Hilux wins with 3,097 sales and 5.9% share, a 19-unit advantage on the Ford Ranger. The strength of both nameplate’s February results push them to #1 and #2 in the year-to-date ranking as well, overtaking January’s leader the VW Polo Vivo, down to #3 in February. Both the VW Polo and Toyota Etios gain one spot on last month to #4 and #5 respectively while the Toyota Corolla is down 3 to #6.

The VW Up lands directly at #20 for its first month in market.

Further down we have 3 great performers worth singling out. Firstly, the Ford Ecosport lodges its 2nd consecutive Top 10 month at an excellent 9th place with 1,318 sales and 2.5% share, making it the brand’s 2nd best-seller below just the Ranger. The Datsun GO, struggling in India but finding its target market in South Africa, improves two spots to a best-ever #16 and finally the VW Up making its very first appearance in the South African sales charts, landing directly at a beautiful 20th spot with 491 sales, slotting it just under 1% market share.

Previous month: South Africa January 2015: Toyota Corolla third, Ford Ecosport cracks Top 10

One year ago: South Africa March 2014: Toyota Hilux reclaims leadership

Full February 2015 Top 10 manufacturers and Top 100 models below.