For eons, Toyota has been the people’s favourite and the best-selling automaker in South Africa, with Volkswagen always on their heels in second place. Now, Suzuki has crept up on the most popular brand in the country and outsold both Toyota and Volkswagen in the passenger car segment.
According to the monthly sales figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), Suzuki sold a whopping 4250 new vehicles during May. While Volkswagen South Africa sold 4468 cars last month, this total includes Audi vehicles as well. Audi also had a good month and sold a total of 529 passenger vehicles, so this would mean Volkswagen SA sold 3939 cars in total. Toyota sold 3 998 vehicles. Hence, Suzuki has surpassed both market leaders.
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Toyota’s Prospecton Plant in Durban suspended operations almost two months ago due to the recent floods, which have hindered the local production of the Toyota Corolla Cross and Quest models. Suzuki takes the well-deserved title of being the best in the land for May. As they say in racing, a win is a win, no matter what.
But what are South Africans buying that’s boosted Suzuki South Africa sales through the roof, you might wonder. Last month, the automaker sold 1 764 Swift models, a few hundred more than VW’s firm favourite Polo (1124 units) and Polo Vivo (1179).
Other models which did well for Suzuki include the compact city-car S-Presso (783), Vitara Brezza (530), Jimny (428), Ertiga (305), and the Celerio with 178 units, with the Dzire close behind with 149 units.According to Toyota, most of their best sellers were hampered by stock shortages. The automaker had to depend on other resources such as imported models such as the Urban Cruiser, which sold 1213 models, and the seven-seater Rumion (834).
Toyota’s other best-sellers, which found favour with locals, were the Land Cruiser-badged models – including Land Cruiser pick-up (294), Prado (157), and Land Cruiser 300 (162). It’s also important to note that Toyota’s numbers also include their Luxury arm, Lexus, albeit in smaller numbers.
