According to Naamsa, May 2019's new vehicle industry sales came in at 40 506 units, representing an increase of 5,7 percent, year on year. Here’s what happened in the fifth month of the year in the passenger vehicle segment...

As always, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s going on in terms of individual model sales. We’ve already examined the figures and picked out the 10 best-selling bakkies for the month, and now it’s time to do the same with the passenger vehicle market (also, be sure to check out the worst-selling vehicles).

Take note that while BMW has started reporting individual model sales figures again, some brands such as German rival Mercedes-Benz continue to provide only aggregate data (Porsche, too, recently followed suit).

So, what happened in May 2019? Well, Volkswagen Polo Vivo remained in top spot, with the Polo hatch again settling in second place (for the record, the local arm of the German firm also sold 65 examples of its Polo Sedan).

Toyota’s Fortuner, meanwhile, climbed one to third place. The Hyundai Grand i10 moved up three spots to grab fourth, while the Toyota Etios improved by one place to finish in fifth.

The Toyota RAV4 thus fell three places to sixth, ahead of the Renault Kwid, which moved up one to seventh. The Ford EcoSport dropped three spots to eighth, while the Volkswagen Tiguan (including the Allspace variants) made a rare appearance on the list in ninth. The Renault Sandero also returned to snaffle tenth place.

Other odds and ends

So, what else interesting happened in May 2019? Well, the 3 Series (264) was BMW’s best seller, ahead of the locally built X3 (171) and imported X5 (139). The local arm of the Munich-based firm also managed to move eight units of the new 8 Series range, along with six examples of its new Z4. Some 34 units of the new X7, meanwhile, were registered in May.

Alfa Romeo sold just a single example each of its Giulia and Stelvio, along with nine units of its 4C sportscar. Behind the aforementioned EcoSport, Ford’s top performers were the Figo (448) and Everest (285), with the Fiesta managing just 141 units.

The HR-V (108) was the only Honda to break into three figures, while Hyundai enjoyed strong contributions from the i20 (425), Tucson (419), Creta (249), Accent (241) and H-1 (225). Kia’s Picanto managed 395 units, while the Rio added 348 and the Sportage a further 272.

Land Rover’s new Range Rover Evoque (101) also made it into three figures, while just a single example of the electric I-Pace found a home in May. Mahindra’s new XUV300 (124) was the Indian brand’s second-most popular vehicle for the month, just behind the KUV100 Nxt (131). Mazda’s top performer was again the CX-5 (382), while the CX-3 (366) and Mazda2 (258) also contributed.

The Eclipse Cross (71) did the heavy lifting for Mitsubishi, accounting for around half of the firm's passenger vehicle total. The Datsun Go (409) fell from the top ten, while the Nissan X-Trail (447) enjoyed a particularly strong month.

Opel managed 136 units in total (with the Crossland X leading the way on 37), ahead of Peugeot’s 97 units and Subaru’s 86. Haval, meanwhile, finished on 666 units for the month. As many as 13 new Ferrari models were sold in May 2019, along with 130 Porsche units and six Maserati models.

Suzuki’s star performer was again the Swift (351), although the Ignis (185) and Ertiga (108) also contributed gamely. The locally built Corolla Quest added 444 units for Toyota, with the Avanza and Yaris managing a handy 271 and 247 units, respectively. The best-selling Lexus for the month was the UX, with 18 units.

Volkswagen registered 383 examples of its outgoing Golf, with Audi’s new Q8 ending up on 39 units (compared with the Q7’s 19 and the VW Touareg’s 51). The Volvo XC60 (63) was again the Swedish firm’s best seller.

See the top ten table below (and have a look back at April 2019’s figures here):

South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger cars of May 2019:

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 478
2. Volkswagen Polo – 1 390
3. Toyota Fortuner – 1 319
4. Hyundai Grand i10 – 738
5. Toyota Etios – 719
6. Toyota RAV4 – 708
7. Renault Kwid – 634
8. Ford EcoSport – 586
9. Volkswagen Tiguan – 536
10. Renault Sandero – 535

Original article from Car