Toyota continues to lead the vehicle sales race
| Market segment | Jul 2014 | Jul 2015 | % change |
| Passenger vehicles | 40,015 | 36,506 | -8.8% |
| Light commercial vehicles | 14,979 | 15,090 | 0.7% |
| Medium commercial vehicles | 855 | 841 | -1.6% |
| Heavy commercial vehicles | 426 | 420 | -1.4% |
| Extra Heavy commercial vehicles | 1,255 | 1,184 | -5.6% |
| Bus | 106 | 71 | -33% |
| Vehicle exports | 22,736 | 28,291 | 24.4% |
| Overall market (local) | 57,636 | 54,112 | -6.1% |
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) increased its market share to 20.8% with a total of 11,235 new Toyota vehicles finding a new home during July; while its ever-green Toyota Hilux reclaimed its position as the country’s top-selling vehicle year to date.
Says Calvyn Hamman, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing at TSAM: “July has been an incredibly successful month for Toyota; and particularly our Hilux model which has sold 20,498 units year-to-date and also achieved the incredible milestone of one-million sales in South Africa – that is an unrivalled sales success story in this country!”
Introduced to the South African market in 1969, the Hilux is currently in its 7th generation with the all-new Hilux due in South African during February 2016. “Produced at our Prospecton plant, the Hilux is undoubtedly one of TSAM’s key products and for it to reclaim its top-selling status in the country is a great achievement and testament to the vehicle’s undeniable quality and value,” says Hamman.
Other top performers in the Toyota stable includes the value-for-money Corolla Quest, selling close to 1,000 units during July; with the Fortuner and RAV continuing its dominance on their respective segments with 717 and 597 units respectively. Furthermore, Toyota’s entry-level offering, the Etios, continues with its successful sales of over 1,500 units per month. On the Truck front, Hino South Africa achieved 371 units – a solid performance in a segment that continuously shows decline.
While July showed an overall market decrease of 6.1%, Hamman and Toyota remains positive about the market’s continued sales stability for the remainder of 2015. “With July seeing an increase in the interest rate, the continued uncertainty around the fuel price and energy provision; the consumer remains cautious of long-term debt. However, we believe the market will still comfortably achieve the 630,000 units forecasted earlier this year,” says Hamman.
On the Finance front, Toyota Financial Services (TFS) launched an exciting ‘First’ for the finance arm of Toyota – the outstanding Guaranteed Future Value (GFV) finance offer across the Fortuner and Corolla 1.6 Quest Model ranges. “The product entails a finance contract with a Guaranteed Future Value (GFV), allowing customers the freedom to drive their favourite vehicle without the final balloon value risk, commonly associated with traditional finance offers. TFS guarantees the final balloon payment, which in turn guarantees the minimum value of the vehicle at the end of the agreement thus ensuring that the value needed to repay the final balloon payment is at least achieved,” commented Marius Burger, CEO of TFS. “We experienced a very busy period during July with over 8,100 New Toyota finance applications being processed – an increase of 12% month-on-month and a very promising 24% increase over the 6 month rolling average.”
Also view:
Vehicle Finance, Car Insurance and Road Safety
Buying and Selling a Vehicle – Informed decisions and the Vehicle Retailer
