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Johannesburg - The true power of South Africa’s motor industry still resides in Kelvin (Toyota HQ), instead of Sandton (VW HQ).
With ten months of the year gone, and sales statistics collated, Toyota leads the way – literally.
Although recent flood damage to its Prospecton manufacturing facility in Durban has throttled production and new product delivery, Toyota South Africa remains the indisputable sales leader locally.
SA vehicle sales
Year-to-date Toyota has sold 116 182 passenger vehicles and bakkies to local customers, a massive 56% more than its nearest rival, VW.
The German brand delivered 74 179 new vehicles in a similar period, with the benefit of not having any disruptions in production at its Uitenhage factory near Port Elizabeth.
Best-selling cars in SA: Polo Vivo dominates, Kia makes the top 10
Top-selling bakkies in October 2017
New vehicle sales in October 2017 saw 51 037 units, an increase of 2255 units or 4.6% compared to 48 782 vehicles sold in October 2016.
Toyota's story so far in 2017
Toyota’s not done anything significantly special in 2017, it’s simply continued supplying a market which doesn’t appear near saturation point for Hilux, Fortuner or Corolla. Considering the margins involved, don’t think it’s all narrow profit Etios and entry level Quest product.
Fortuner regularly sells a thousand units a month and the cheapest of those is R444 500. Not a bad business to have.
Add the volume impetus of Quantum, which is a business where marketing and incentives are not required and a thousand units per month are normal, and you can start understanding why VW lags Toyota. The Germans have but one bakkie product, a credible one in Amarok, but it’s a very limited range, and there’s nothing within VW’s product portfolio to compete with Quantum or Fortuner, two models which do amazing volumes at rather full pricing.
With South African customers eschewing luxury cars for SUVs of any description, and those who own their own businesses opting for double-cab bakkies as a leisure/working vehicle alternative, it’s clear that Toyota has an unrivalled range of vehicles perfectly tailored to local demand.
Dominating Polo Vivo
Where VW does establish itself as the second most powerful automotive brand in South Africa, is hatchback motoring – which is always the truest barometer of family vehicle purchasing – as opposed to bakkies and rugged SUVs.
A uniquely local product, Polo Vivo is regularly the best-selling local passenger car, and when bundled with Polo and Golf7, VW’s leadership in the pure passenger car market is inarguable: its offering of hatchbacks often touching near 6000 units a month.
Priced from Etios Hi XB at R165 500 to Land Cruiser 200 VX-R at R1 345 00, Toyota has the bulk of South Africa’s buying market covered. Add Lexus to the equation and the realm of that product portfolio expands upwards to LC500 at R1 729 000.
Lexus accounts for a very small part of Toyota’s monthly sales (on average less than one percent), whilst Audi’s sales as a proportion of VWSA’s reported figure (both business entities bundle the luxury brands within their total sales) are hugely more significant, about 10% of the combined number each month.
The deduction to be made is that Toyota’s superiority over VW, on a pure one-to-one sales comparison, is ever greater than the overall figures would suggest, if you scrape out the Lexus and Audi contributions.
Despite an operating headquarters which is not located within Africa’s most influential square mile of all things financial (Sandton), Toyota remains by far the most significant automotive retailer and manufacturer operating in South Africa. The numbers confirm a truth which is overwhelming self-evident wherever you drive.
