Category Archives: Vehicle Sales

1,051 new vehicles were sold in August, representing a 55.2% m/m increase from the 677 sold in July and a 37.9% y/y increase from the 762 new vehicles sold in August 2021. Year-to-date 6,915 new vehicles have been sold, of which 3,574 were passenger vehicles, 2,907 light commercial vehicles, and 434 medium and heavy commercial vehicles. In comparison, 6,454 new vehicles were sold by August 2021. 2022’s new vehicle sales are very much in line with 2019’s, as the figure below shows. On a 12-month cumulative basis, a total of 9,889 new vehicles were sold as at August 2022, representing a 6.4% y/y increase from the 9,293 new vehicles sold over the comparable period a year ago.

519 new passenger vehicles were sold during August, an increase of 35.9% m/m from the 382 sold in July, and a 53.6% y/y increase from the 338 new vehicles sold in August 2021. Volkswagen and Toyota were the biggest contributors to the increase in monthly new passenger vehicles in August. Year-to-date, new passenger vehicle sales rose to 3,574, an increase of 19.0% from the 3,003 sold during the same period last year. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales rose by 18.8% y/y to 5,055, the highest level since December 2018, some 44 months ago.

532 new commercial vehicles were sold in August, representing an increase of 80.3% m/m and a 25.5% y/y. While all three sub-categories recorded better sales than last month, the month-on-month increase was largely driven by an increase in light commercial vehicle sales, following a recovery in sales by Toyota. Light commercial vehicle sales rose by 31.4% y/y to 465, medium commercial vehicle sales climbed by 12.5% y/y to 18 while heavy commercial vehicles fell by 9.3% y/y to 49. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales decreased by 4.6% y/y to 4,137, medium commercial vehicles fell by 2.7% y/y to 179, while heavy commercial vehicles rose by 0.2% y/y to 518.

Toyota retained its lead in the new passenger vehicle sale segment, claiming 29.6% of the sales on a year-to-date basis, followed by Volkswagen with a 23.3% share, slightly higher from the previous month. The two top brands maintained their large gap over the rest of the market with Kia and Suzuki following with 9.2% and 8.2% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 29.7% of the market to other brands.

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota also maintained its dominance in the light commercial vehicle space with a 45.9% market share, followed by Nissan with 13.5%. Hino continues to lead the medium commercial vehicle segment with 28.6% of year-to-date sales, followed by Mercedes-Benz with 21.9% market share. In the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle market, Scania retained its position as the leader with 30.7% market share.

The Bottom Line

New vehicle sales recovered materially this month, breaching the 1,000 level for the first time since March. As previously mentioned, the growth was largely driven by a rebound in sales from Toyota in particularly the passenger- and light commercial categories, due to the recommencement of production at the KwaZulu Natal production plant, although Volkswagen also recorded a robust increase in passenger vehicle sales. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales breached the 5,000 mark for the first time since May 2019 and is edging towards 2018 levels. New commercial vehicles sales however continue to hover around the 4,800 level on a 12-month cumulative basis, where it has been trending for the past year.

A total of 677 new vehicles were sold in July, representing a 22.4% m/m decline from the 872 new vehicles sold in June, and a 15.3% y/y drop from the 799 new vehicles sold July last year. Year-to-date 5,864 vehicles have been sold of which 3,055 were passenger vehicles, 2,442 were light commercial vehicles, and 367 were medium and heavy commercial vehicles. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, a total of 9,600 new vehicles were sold at the end of July, representing a 5.3% y/y increase from the 9,118 new vehicles sold over the comparable period a year ago.

382 new passenger vehicles were sold in July, the lowest monthly sales figure so far this year, down 11.6% from the 432 passenger vehicles sold in June. Toyota resumed full scale production again in July, after suspending production in April following the floods in KwaZulu-Natal. Despite Toyota ramping up its production at the plant, new passenger vehicles from Toyota declined by 27.1% m/m dipping below the 100 new vehicle sales mark for the second time this year. Year-to-date passenger vehicles sales rose to 3,055 in July, 14.6% higher than during the same period in 2021 and 73.6% higher than the same period in 2020. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales increased by 18.4% y/y to 4,874.

Following the uptick in commercial vehicle sales in June when 440 units were sold, new commercial vehicles sales fell to 295 in July, contracting by 33.0% m/m and 28.2% y/y. Light commercial vehicles continue to make up the bulk of the new commercial vehicle sales with 266 sold in July, followed by 17 heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicles and 12 medium commercial vehicles. Like the passenger vehicle sales, light commercial vehicles from Toyota declined and reached its lowest monthly sales level in two years. Light commercial vehicle sales from Nissan also recorded a sharp decline down 39.7% m/m from June, albeit from a high base. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light and medium commercial vehicle sales fell 6.5% y/y and 6.3% y/y, respectively, while heavy commercial vehicle sales rose 3.2% y/y.

Despite having lower sales in July, Toyota continues to lead the new passenger vehicle sales segment with 30.3% of the segment sales year-to-date, followed by Volkswagen with 20.9% of the market share. The two top brands maintained their large gap over the rest of the market with Kia and Suzuki following with 9.4% and 8.0% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 31.5% of the market to other brands.

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota maintained its dominance in the light commercial vehicle space with a 45.3% market share, followed by Nissan with 14.0%. Hino continues to lead the medium commercial vehicle segment with 28.7% of sales year-to-date, closely followed by Mercedes-Benz with 24.1% market share. Scania retains its position as the leader in the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 31.4% market share year-to-date.

The Bottom Line

New vehicle sales slumped in July. July’s sales figure is the lowest so far in 2022 but still in line with the monthly average for the year. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales were 0.1% lower than in June, decreasing for the first time after rising for 19 consecutive months, possibly supply side driven by the flood induced problems for Toyota in South Africa. With the Toyota production plant in KwaZulu-Natal having re-commenced production in July, vehicle sales are expected to recover marginally. New commercial vehicle sales also contracted by 5.5% on a 12-month cumulative basis. Overall, year-to-date new vehicle sales are still roughly in line with those of 2021.

866 new vehicles were sold in June, which is 96 more than were sold in May and represents a 2.7% y/y increase from the 843 vehicles sold in June 2021. The first half of 2022 has observed a total of 5,181 new vehicle sales, of which 2,668 were passenger vehicles, 2,175 light commercial vehicles, and 338 medium and heavy commercial vehicles. By comparison, the first half of 2021 saw 4,893 new vehicles sold. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, a total of 9,716 new vehicles were sold at the end of June, representing an 8.1% y/y increase from the 8,989 sold over the comparable period a year ago.

A total of 427 new passenger vehicles were sold during June, an increase of 5.4% m/m from the 405 sold in May, but a 0.7% y/y decrease from the 430 vehicles sold in June 2021. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales have increased by 23.2% y/y to 4,875. Year-to-date, new passenger vehicles sales exceeded 2020 and 2021 levels, with 2,668 new passenger vehicles sold so far this year, a 74.5% and 17.2% increase from the new passenger vehicles sold over the same period in 2020 and 2021, respectively.

A total of 439 new commercial vehicles were sold in June, representing an increase of 20.3% m/m and 6.3% y/y. While all three subcategories recorded better sales than in May, the month-on-month increase was primarily driven by a rebound in light commercial vehicle sales of 21.4% m/m. There was a noticeably drop in Toyota’s light commercial vehicle sales in both May and June following the temporary closure of the production plant in KwaZulu-Natal. Despite this, light commercial vehicle sales were still in line with the monthly average for the year as customers switched to other brands who were able to deliver new light commercial vehicles. Medium- and heavy commercial vehicle sales fell 31.6% y/y and 19.0% y/y respectively, while light commercial vehicles sales rose 13.3% y/y. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicles sales fell by 4.3% y/y to 4,135, medium commercial vehicles fell by 6.3% y/y to 178, while heavy commercial vehicles increased by 1.5% y/y to 528.

Toyota continues to lead the new passenger vehicle sales segment with 31.7% of the segment sales year-to-date, followed by Volkswagen with 20.4% of the market share. The two top brands maintained their large gap over the rest of the market with Kia and Suzuki following with 9.0% and 7.8% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 31.0% of the market to other brands.

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota maintained its dominance in the light commercial vehicle space with a 48.8% market share, followed by Nissan with 13.6% of the market. Hino continues to lead the medium commercial vehicle segment with 29.3% of sales year-to-date, closely followed by Mercedes-Benz with 24.0% of the market share. Scania remained the leader in the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 33.1% of the market share year-to-date.

The Bottom Line

In context, June’s new vehicle sales figure was in line with the monthly average for the year. On a 12-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales have rebounded to the pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019 but seems unlikely to exceed it meaningfully in the short-term. New commercial vehicle sales continue to hover around the 4,800 level on a 12-month cumulative basis, where it has been for the past two years now, indicating stagnant demand in this sector. The last time cumulative commercial vehicle sales were at these levels was in 2006.