The second hand cars South Africans are buying right now

 ·8 Jan 2020

AutoTrader, the online marketplace to find new or used cars, has published its monthly used car sales data for December, highlighting the most popular pre-owned cars in South Africa right now and how much they cost.

The group’s data shows that while there are some differences between new and used car sales statistics, there are also some parallels.

For instance, there are a number of cars that appear in the top 10 of both the new and used lists including the Polo, Hilux, Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Fortuner and Polo Vivo.

The Volkswagen Polo is currently the most popular used car in South Africa, followed by the Ford Ranger and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

December also proved to be a good month overall for Toyota, with the Yaris making its appearance at number 10 on the list, replacing the Ford Ecosport.

BMW and Volkswagen remain the most-searched brands, followed by Mercedes, Toyota and Audi.

New car sales

Data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) showed that new vehicle sales ended 2019 on the front foot, recording a 4.2% increase in December from 40,020 units in 2018, to 41,698.

However, the local market declined by 2.5% over the course of the year, to sales of 536,626 new vehicle, from the 552,227 sales in 2018.

Top 10 best-selling passenger vehicles in December

Rank Vehicle November 2019 sales December 2019 sales
1 Toyota Hilux 2 588 3 080
2 Volkswagen Polo Vivo  2 439 1 779
3 Ford Ranger 1 894 1 724
4 Renault Kwid 1 508 1 631
5 Toyota Etios 858 1 433
6 Volkswagen Polo 2 038 1 410
7 Isuzu D-Max 1 299 1 344
8 Toyota Fortuner 664 974
9 Toyota Corolla Quest 598 963
10 Nissan NP300 Hardbody 558 839

The Ford EcoSport also sits just outside the top 10, with 837 units sold in December, while the Volkswagen T-Cross has seen a strong debut into the local market, with 685 units sold last month.

AutoTrader noted that in terms of geographical sales, the VW Polo is the clear favourite in the used space, and is the most popular vehicle in five of the country’s nine provinces.

Ford Ranger was the bestselling car in Gauteng and the North West, in December.


Read: 8 new cars coming to South Africa in 2020 to get excited about

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