Cape Town - The Volkswagen Polo Vivo reigns as SA's top-selling vehicle in December 2016.
Overall however a struggling economy and a tumbling rand took its toll on passenger car sales.
Drop in sales
The Vivo was the best-selling passenger for the last month of 2016, with 1835 unit sold. The only other car to have sold more than 1000 units was the VW Polo with 1504 units.
Other passengers cars struggled to pass the 1000-unit mark.
The Toyota Fortuner sold the third most number of vehicles (958), followed by the Toyota Corolla/Auris/Quest on 957.
Ford's EcoSport (896), Fiesta 9627) and Figo (475) also saw dwindling sales compared to previous months in 2016.
The biggest surprise, perhaps, was Renault's Kwid, again registering a solid month with 752 units, following a strong November 2016.
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Ending the year on a weak note
Naamsa comments that industry domestic sales for the year ended on a weak note, with aggregate industry new vehicle sales for December 2016 at 41 639 units recording a decline of 7519 vehicles or a fall of 15.3% compared to the total new vehicle sales of 49 158 units during the corresponding month of December 2015.
Naamsa said: "Overall, 2016 turned out to be another extremely difficult year for the South African automotive industry with domestic new vehicle sales progressively under pressure, particularly at dealer level, despite attractive sales incentives."
The slowdown in the domestic economy, above average new vehicle inflationary pressures, increases in interest rates, pressure on consumers’ and household disposable income and low levels of consumer confidence had contributed to a double digit decline in annual domestic sales volumes.
Top-selling new vehicles in December 2016:
1 VW Polo Vivo - 1835 units
2 VW Polo - 1504
3 Toyota Fortuner - 958
4 Toyota Corolla/Auris/Quest - 957
5 Ford EcoSport - 896
6 BMW 3-Series - 849
7 Renault Kwid - 752
8 Ford Fiesta - 627
9 Toyota Etios - 597
10 Ford Figo - 475