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- Toyota has claimed the throne as SA's best-selling automotive brand for 42 years.
- The company delivered more than 36 000 new Hilux bakkies to customers in South Africa in 2021.
- Value-oriented Corolla Cross, Urban Cruiser, and Starlet remain the sales heroes for the company.
- For motoring news, go to Wheels24
Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has announced that for the past 42 years, it has been the best-selling automotive brand in SA with a market share of 25.4%. In fact, one in every four vehicles sold locally last year was a Toyota product. Out of the industry total of 464 122 in 2021, an aggregate of 117 659 units was delivered by TSAM.
The last time TSAM registered a market share higher than 25% was in 2003, and the carmaker says it was not necessarily a good year for the industry as total automotive sales were just slightly above 380 000.
Toyota has garnered a market share of just above 19% for the past few years. Worthy of mention, however, is that Toyota has been punching above a 20% share for the past five years.
Best-sellers - Hilux remains king of the hill
The Hilux retains its title as the country's best-selling vehicle with a total of 36 085 units sold - most of which were double cabs. Hiace also continued its supremacy as the 'people mover' of choice, with a total of 15 699 models sold. The two heroes, assisted by other light commercial vehicles (LCV) such as Land Cruiser pick-up and Dyna, propelled TSAM to its highest LCV market share of 42.2%.
Toyota's market share of 19.2% in the passenger segment is the highest in the last 12 years - matching a similar figure in 2018 - and comes in the wake of two noteworthy performances by the new Corolla Cross in November and December.
Other notable figures were posted by Starlet and Urban Cruiser last year - 12 103 and 8 899, respectively, for 2021.
Toyota's truck division Hino posted an impressive market share of 25.1% in the Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) segment and registered a 5.5% share in Heavy Commercial Vehicles.
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Sales decline overall for the auto industry
Commenting on December sales, NAAMSA says: "The new vehicle market declined during December 2021, with aggregate industry new vehicle sales at 35 948 units recording a decline of 1 302 vehicles or a fall of 3.5% compared to the total new vehicle sales of 37 250 units during the corresponding month of December 2020.
"The December 2021 new passenger car market and light commercial vehicle market reflected a mixed performance with a year-on-year volume increase of 1.7% in the case of new passenger cars and a decline of 16.6% in the case of light commercial vehicles. Sales of medium commercial vehicles increased year-on-year by 17.5% while heavy commercial vehicles and buses were marginally down by 0.7%."
In December, TSAM continued to power ahead with sales of 9 580 - leading in both Passenger (5 603) and LCV (3 699) segments for the second month in a row. The December retail represents 26.6% of the total sales of 35 948 units reported by NAAMSA.
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According to Leon Theron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM: "The last month of the year is not traditionally successful when it comes to vehicles sales. This is mainly due to the limited days of doing business and many customers and dealers withholding vehicle registrations to record new models in the New Year. However, we are truly grateful for the 26.6% market share recorded last month."
Theron also paid tribute to Toyota's employees, dealers and other business partners for their support: "When we established the brand in South Africa in 1961, we focused on establishing a wide dealer network that directly serves customers. We genuinely appreciate all those who have been part of the Toyota journey to date, including dealers, staff, as well as all the various brand ambassadors and customers."
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