According to Naamsa, August 2019's new vehicle industry sales came in at 45 537 units, representing a decline of 5,1 percent, year on year. Here’s what happened in the eighth 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, check out the worst-selling passenger cars).

Take note that while BMW has started reporting individual model sales figures again, some brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Haval continue to provide only aggregate data.

So, what happened in August 2019? Well, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo held onto the top spot, with the Polo hatchback again having to settle for second place (for the record, the local arm of the German firm also sold 540 examples of its Polo sedan).

The Renault Kwid climbed four places to third, while the Toyota Fortuner moved up one to fourth. The Ford Figo returned to the table to grab fifth, with the Hyundai Grand i10 gaining three spots to place sixth.

The Datsun Go likewise made a reappearance to snaffle seventh, forcing the Kia Picanto down two places to eighth. The Suzuki Swift moved up one to ninth, while the Ford EcoSport (dropping six places) and Hyundai i20 (falling seven) shared the final spot on the list.

Other odds and ends

So, what else interesting happened in August 2019? Well, BMW’s X7 (29) again outsold the 7 Series (16), with the 3 Series (381) and locally built X3 (160) leading the sales charge for the Munich-based firm.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles SA managed 148 registrations during the month, an improvement over July and ahead of the likes of Mitsubishi (133), Peugeot (133) and Subaru (90). Haval, though, hit 828 units in August, again more than doubling Honda’s effort of 410.

Ford sold 240 examples of its Everest (for the record, some 70 units of the Isuzu MU-X were registered, along with 36 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport models), while sales of the Fiesta dropped to 126 units.

The new Range Rover Evoque (80) was the most popular model in the Jaguar Land Rover stable, while registrations of the all-electric I-Pace improved to five units (BMW, meanwhile, sold six examples of its i3). The Rio (308) and Sportage (277) made worthwhile contributions to Kia’s cause, while 218 of Mahindra’s 379 passenger vehicles sales came courtesy of the KUV100.

The CX-5 (349) and CX-3 (333) again led the way for Mazda, with the new Mazda3 having to settle for 118 sales. The most popular Nissan-badged model in August was the Almera (276), while the Crossland X (67) played that role for Opel.

The Renault Sandero wasn’t far from placing in the top ten with 537 units registered, with Toyota’s Etios (623), RAV4 (586) and Corolla Quest (597) came even closer. The Japanese marque also registered 21 examples of the new Supra, compared with 11 units of the BMW Z4 roadster.

The Tiguan added 574 units for Volkswagen, while the outgoing Golf contributed a useful 322. As has become the case for Volvo globally, the XC60 (73) was the volume driver, ahead of the XC40 (47) and facelifted XC90 (38).

We also spotted registration data about a few interesting vehicles that have yet to officially launch, including the new Volkswagen T-Cross (47), Peugeot 108 (28) and Peugeot 5008 (10).

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

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

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 252
2. Volkswagen Polo hatchback – 2 124
3. Renault Kwid – 1 098
4. Toyota Fortuner – 811
5. Ford Figo – 758
6. Hyundai Grand i10 – 715
7. Datsun Go – 678
8. Kia Picanto – 665
9. Suzuki Swift – 663
10=. Ford EcoSport – 658
10=. Hyundai i20 – 658

Original article from Car