New vehicle sales in South Africa are still under intense pressure, with total volumes falling some 15,3% to 41 639 units in December 2016 year-on-year.

Still, it's interesting to take a look at what's happening in terms of individual model sales. So, we've examined the figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), and picked out the ten best-selling passenger vehicles for the month (also, be sure to check out the 10 best-selling bakkies).

One must bear in mind that certain importers – such as Hyundai and Kia – do not submit individual model sales figures, instead only disclosing aggregate sales stats. Mercedes-Benz, too, has taken a similar stance.

In the final month of 2016, the Volkswagen Polo Vivo regained top spot, climbing two places from third. That saw the regular Polo fall one place to second.

The Toyota Fortuner, meanwhile, climbed one to third, swapping places with the Japanese automaker's combination of the Corolla, Auris and Corolla Quest (the brand reports an overall figure rather than individual model sales), which thus fell to fourth.

The Ford EcoSport jumped two spots to fifth, while the BMW 3 Series made a strong return to the table to snaffle sixth. The Renault Kwid enjoyed its most successful month yet, moving up one place to seventh.

The Ford Fiesta, meanwhile, plummeted three places to eighth, with the Toyota Etios likewise dropping three to ninth. The Ford Figo returned to round out the table, which meant there was no space for the Datsun GO (371) or Toyota RAV4 (377).

Other odds and ends

Other interesting titbits from December's stats include the fact that the X1 (191) proved the most popular of BMW's SUVs, while the 1 Series weighed in with a healthy 225 units.

The Ford Everest (376) and Focus (243), meanwhile, both registered solid months, although the Kuga could manage just 146 sales. Some 23 units of the Opel Mokka X made the list, along with 51 (essentially pre-facelift) Mokka models.

Honda's BR-V (148) proved to be the Japanese brand's most successful product in December, outselling the Brio by six units. The CX-5 (322) performed that role for Mazda, although the Mazda3 (243), Mazda2 (148) and CX-3 (136) also came to the party.

The X-Trail (388) was Nissan's top performer, while Infiniti could manage a total of just five cars for the month. Peugeot, meanwhile, reported 112 registrations for the 208, to go along with 11 for the 2008 (Citroën, of course, is no longer active in South Africa). For Renault, the Clio (466), Sandero (390), Duster (358), Captur (210) and Kadjar (190) all returned solid showings.

See the top ten table below (and have a look back at November's figures here):

South Africa's 10 best-selling passengers cars of December 2016:

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 1 835
2. Volkswagen Polo – 1 504
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

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Original article from Car