These are the most popular cars in South Africa right now

·4 Jun 2018

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) has released its statistics for May 2018, showing new vehicle sales at 42,984 – an improvement of 1,022 vehicles, or 2.4%, from the 41,962 vehicles sold in May last year.

Aggregate export sales at 32,731 vehicles reflected an improvement of 3,982 units, or a gain of 13.9% compared to the 28,749 vehicles exported in May last year.

“South Africa’s vehicle market continues to show positive growth, with sales expected to reach 2% year on year in 2018 at 568,000 vehicles,” said Cyril Zhungu, head of dealer automotive retail at Standard Bank.

“The market is largely being driven by the lower and medium segments –and we expect strong activity to continue.”

“Consumers have been able to deleverage their debt over the past 10 years since the financial crisis of 2008/9 and debt to income has dropped over that period. This has allowed consumers to continue participating in the credit market as affordability has improved and combined with lower price inflation is driving confidence,” he said.

Zhungu added that stable inflation, low interest rates, and sales incentives from manufacturers, together with improved confidence, continues to underpin the positive outlook.

He highlighted that consumer confidence served to drive higher dealer sales, but it was notable that exports grew at 13.9% as demand remained strong from export markets.

However, Zhungu pointed out that the recent increase in the oil price is a downside risk to the outlook given the impact to changes on motoring costs to the average consumer.

“Furthermore, the drift in cost inflation caused by oil prices, among others, will filter through into transport costs, which translates into a higher overall cost of living,” he said.

Below are South Africa’s 10 best-selling passengers cars for May 2018.

Volkswagen Polo – 1,979