South Africa July 2020: Toyota Hilux (+19.3%) breaks share record, ignores struggling market (-29.6%)

The Toyota Hilux breaks its all-time market share record in South Africa.

Total Covid-19 cases in South Africa have soared from 276.342 a month ago to 568.919, hitting a record 13.944 on July 24. As a result of the continued disruption, new vehicle sales in the country remain stuck in a rut at -29.6% year-on-year in July to 32.396, a similar drop to June (-30.6%). The year-to-date tally is now down -35.8% to 195.025. There’s hope the economy and car market will stabilise in the coming months though, as new infections have drastically reduced over the past wee to just 2.511 on August 11. Looking at sales by segment for the month, Passenger Cars drop -35.8% to 18.905, Light Commercials are off -19.7% to 11.123 and Medium + Heavy Commercials down -13.1% to 2.368.

Toyota (-36.2%) is hit harder than the market but remains the best-selling carmaker in the country at 20% share, distancing Volkswagen (-33.4%) at 15.7% and Ford (-25.5%) at 9.9%. Hyundai (-9.6%) and Mercedes (-11.1%) resist best in the remainder of the Top 10, with Isuzu (-21.4%) and Suzuki (-23.1%) also outpacing the market but Nissan (-55.8%), Kia (-43.4%) and Renault (-34.9%) struggling. Model-wise, the Toyota Hilux (+19.3%) posts a superb double-digit year-on-year gain, completely bucking the negative trend to reach 11% share, a new all-time record eclipsing the 10.4% it hit in June 2019. The Ford Ranger (-10.4%), VW Polo (-15.9%), Polo Vivo (-43.8%) and Isuzu D-Max (-20.8%) complete the Top 5.

Previous month: South Africa June 2020: Suzuki (-3.1%), Hyundai (-4%), Isuzu (-4.2%) resist in market down -30.6%

One year ago: South Africa July 2019: Isuzu, Suzuki, Renault headline another market slide (-3.8%)

Full July 2020 Top 10 brands and models below.