SA's 10 best-selling passenger cars of July 2018

The Yaris was one of five Toyota-badged model lines in the top ten in July 2018.

According to Naamsa, July’s new vehicle industry sales came in at 47 881 units, representing an increase of 2,6%, year on year. Here’s what happened in the seventh month of the year in the passenger car segment…

As always, it’s interesting to take a look at what’s happening in terms of individual model sales. We’ve already examined the figures and picked out the 10 best-selling bakkies for the month (as well as the 12 worst-sellers), and now it’s time to do the same with the passenger vehicle market.

Unfortunately, it appears as though BMW has again opted to report only aggregate sales data “for the time being”, mirroring the approach taken by German rival Mercedes-Benz not to provide individual model sales figures. Kia and Hyundai, though, thankfully started releasing their individual model sales figures months ago, which makes the picture a little clearer.

So, what happened in July 2018? Well, the Volkswagen Polo took the crown, swapping places with the Polo Vivo, which had to settle for second. Toyota’s combination of the Corolla, Auris and Corolla Quest (the brand reports an overall figure rather than individual model sales) retained third place.

The Hyundai Grand i10 rocketed four spots back up the table to grab fourth, ahead of the Toyota Fortuner, which was forced down one place to fifth. The Toyota Yaris, meanwhile, climbed three to sixth spot, and the Toyota RAV4 returned to the table (which means half of the top ten wear Toyota badges) with a strong seventh.

The Kia Picanto moved up two spots to take eighth, while the Toyota Etios fell three to ninth. The Ford Figo re-appeared to snaffle the final spot on the list, with the Renault Kwid (656) and Renault Sandero (505) dropping out of the top ten.

Other bits and bobs

What else caught our eye in July 2018? Well, unfortunately, not a single Alfa Romeo Giulia was registered in South Africa for the month, while just four examples of the Stelvio found homes. Still, at least the Tipo (17), 500 (16) and Panda (12) made it into double-figures for the Fiat brand.

Ford’s refreshed EcoSport enjoyed something of a return to form, improving from the pre-facelift’s 221 units in June to a more impressive showing of 575 in July. The Everest added 352 units – out-selling the Isuzu MU-X (76) and Mitsubishi Pajero Sport (61) – while the new Fiesta could muster just 296 units.

The BR-V (163) and Jazz (105) were the only Honda-badged vehicles to hit three figures, while Hyundai reported strong performances from the i20 (651) and Tucson (492). Interestingly, local Creta sales fell to 209 units (from 597 the previous month), presumably due to restricted stock in the run-up to the launch of the facelifted model.

The E-Pace (65) was Jaguar’s top seller, beating both the Volvo XC40 (59) and Audi Q2 (52) in July. Kia reported that two Stinger units were registered in the month, along with 303 examples of the Rio. Mazda’s heavy lifters were again the CX-5 (372), updated CX-3 (338) and Mazda3 (268).

Mitsubishi fell two units short of three figures, while Peugeot dropped to just 68 in total. Subaru managed 70 registrations for July, while Opel registered 310 sales, with the Corsa (89) and Crossland X (88) leading the charge.

The Datsun Go (461) topped the list of Nissan group products, with the evergreen Almera (373), Micra Active (205) and new Micra (201) also coming to the party. The new Swift (403) impressed for Suzuki, while the Ignis (208), DZire (146) and Celerio (145) also contributed gamely to the brand's best ever month (total sales of 1 237, including 40 in the light commercial segment) in South Africa.

The top seller for Lexus was the NX (25), while the Toyota Rush (494) experienced a strong start to life in South Africa, not far behind the Avanza (544). The C-HR added a further 193 units to the Japanese automaker’s cause.

Meanwhile, the Tiguan (494) and Golf (329) provided fair support to the Wolfsburg-based brand’s top-sellers, while the Jetta (105) also crossed into three figures. The Arteon (40), too, finally made its appearance.

See the top ten table below (and have a look back at June 2018’s figures here):

South Africa's 10 best-selling passengers cars of July 2018:

1. Volkswagen Polo – 2 817
2. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 321
3. Toyota Corolla/Auris/Quest – 2 047
4. Hyundai Grand i10 – 1 141
5. Toyota Fortuner – 1 006
6. Toyota Yaris – 974
7. Toyota RAV4 – 949
8. Kia Picanto – 893
9. Toyota Etios – 830
10. Ford Figo – 808

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