With sales last month returning to pre-pandemic levels, these were the chart-topping new cars and bakkies
The Toyota Corolla Cross, a recent entrant in the popular compact SUV segment, is SA’s best selling passenger car.New vehicle sales in SA exceeded expectations last month, recording the highest monthly total since pre-pandemic October 2019.
It’s been a good first quarter for the local motor industry. In the first three months the biggest growth has been in the passenger car market. In the year to date 93,377 cars have been sold, a 25.4% rise over the same period last year. Light commercials have improved by a smaller 2.9% to 35,888 units in the first three months of 2022. However, SA’s top-selling vehicle remains a light commercial, the Toyota Hilux, and by quite a margin.
Alongside bakkies, the budget car and compact SUV segments continue to lure large numbers of SA consumers. In the budget category the VW Polo Vivo and new-generation Polo continue to rule sales, while Toyota dominates the compact SUV league with the Corolla Cross and Urban Cruiser. Electric vehicles are still selling at a trickle compared to internal combustion engined cars, but the momentum is picking up after the introduction of new models. EV sales more than doubled to 218 units in SA in 2021 with the recent launches of battery-powered cars such as the BMW iX and Audi E-Tron, off a very low base of 92 EVs sold in 2020.