These 12 popular cars in South Africa are priced under R250,000

Twelve of the top-selling new passenger vehicles in South Africa’s top 30 for the month of August, are priced below the average price of a pre-owned vehicle financed by Wesbank, that being around R253,000.

The lender noted that the new vehicle market bounced back during August after being unsettled by a barrage of impacts during July. Not only did sales show good growth over the same period last year, but August’s new vehicle sales were the second-highest this year at 41,425 units, after March’s figure of 44,217. According to Naamsa, new vehicle sales were 24.6% up on August last year.

“Taking into account that July sales were significantly disrupted, the fact that sales were up 8.9% over June indicates some reparations from impacted July sales,” said Lebogang Gaoaketse, head of marketing and communication at WesBank. August sales were 25.3% up over the skewed July new vehicle sales result.

The bank said demand is measured by applications for finance that continue to sit at levels equivalent to or above those experienced prior to the pandemic. “This is reassuring in two senses,” said Gaoaketse.

“On one hand, consumers have been keeping their vehicles for longer, especially delaying purchases through the pandemic. This will create natural demand on the replacement cycle as consumers need to renew their ageing vehicles, probably with lower mileage.

“On the other hand, the current performance of the market is related to supply, rather than demand, meaning a healthy recovery for the industry is on the cards when stability returns to global production,” he said.

WesBank warns that not all that demand will go to new vehicles, however.

“The trend towards the pre-owned market continues, driven primarily by affordability,” said Gaoaketse. “This remains good news for dealers in support of their viability across new and pre-owned showroom floors. Consumers will also benefit from better-used vehicle stock once the replacement cycle activity kicks in, due to those low mileage vehicles that have been used less during lockdown.”

Passenger cars grew 40.5% over August last year to 27,157 units. Of these, 22,225 units were sold through the dealer network, 25% ahead of the same period last year, showing a resumption in demand and confidence.

The Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market was impacted less at 11,749 units, 3.8% ahead of August 2020. In fact, dealer sales were 1% down in this segment year-on-year.

The top 5 best-selling vehicles for August:

• Toyota Hilux — 3,335 units
• VW Polo — 2,090 units
• VW Polo Vivo — 1,724 units
• Isuzu D-Max — 1,331 units
• Ford Ranger — 1,317 units

The Polo Vivo drove the market for vehicles priced below R250,000, some 500 units ahead of the Toyota Starlet in that price range, while two new models – The Toyota Cruiser, and Nissan Magnite – sit only a few thousand rand above the R250,000 point.