Ivory Coast Full Year 2019: Suzuki threatens Toyota, Vitara teases Hilux in market up 17.7%

The Suzuki Vitara teases the Toyota Hilux for pole position in 2019.

Discover a decade worth of Ivory Coast Historical Data here.

It’s a third consecutive year of solid growth for new vehicle sales in Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) in 2019 at +17.7% to 13.384 units. Brand leader Toyota (+9.4%) trails the market slightly and sees its share thaw by more than one percentage point from 16.4% to 15.3%. Its advantage over #2 Suzuki, up a fantastic 58.5% to 14.1% share has reduced drastically: from 682 units in 2018 to just 164 this year. In fact, the momentum is clearly on Suzuki which snapped the #1 brand spot in August, October, November and December and is ideally positioned to lead the market overall in 2020.

The rest of the Top 8 brands in unchanged on last year, with Hyundai (+30.8%) faring the best by far and all other brands underperforming, notably Mitsubishi (+3.4%), Mazda (+0.4%) and Ford (-16.5%). Peugeot (+46.8%) shoots up to #9 and Great Wall (+28.2%) remains at #10, the best-seller among a long list of 18 Chinese carmakers present in Ivory Coast, adding up to 1.373 sales (+21.9%) and 10.3% share. Seat (+230.8%), Sinotruk (+141.1%), Mercedes (+102.4%), Tata (+46.9%), BMW (+43.1%), Volvo (+43%), Haval (+40.4%), Yutong (+39.4%), JAC (+32.5%), Honda (+32.4%) and Isuzu (+22.2%) also make themselves noticed.

Model-wise, the Toyota Hilux (+7.8%) remains the #1 but similarly to the brands ranking, it is getting heat by a Suzuki, the Vitara (+133.1%) up 4 spots on 2018 to land in 2nd place with 5.5% share vs. 6.3% for the Hilux. The Vitara knocks the Mitsubishi L200 (-11.8%), Renault Duster (+13.6%), and Nissan Hardbody (-0.3%) all down one spot to #3 to #5. The Toyota RAV4 (+17.3%) enjoys the benefits of its new generation and overtakes the Mazda BT-50 (-8.9%) to #6. Meanwhile the Suzuki Alto 800 (+76.3%), Nissan Kicks (+36.6%) and Great Wall Wingle (+32.5%) all post spectacular gains in the tail end of the Top 10. The Renault Kwid (#33), Toyota Rush (+267.2%), Hyundai ix25 Creta (+182.4%), Citroen C-Elysee (+165.2%), Haval H6 (+161.3%), Suzuki Ertiga (+131.1%) and Hyundai Grand i10 (+95.9%) also shine in the remainder of the Top 50.

Previous year: Ivory Coast Full Year 2018: Toyota and Hilux lead, Suzuki (+81.8%), Chinese (+26.2%) stun in market up 16.1%

Two years ago: Ivory Coast Full Year 2017: Toyota Hilux leads, only pickups and SUVs in Top 10

Full Year 2019 Top 56 All-brands and Top 222 All-models vs. Full Year 2018 figures below.