The official local body representing new vehicle manufacturers, Naamsa (National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa) has released its latest vehicle sales figures. These numbers reveal which were the best selling cars in South Africa during August 2013.

According to Naamsa, the total number of new vehicles sold in South Africa during August 2013 came to 56 112. This marks a minor 0.3% year-on-year decline or 155 vehicles less when compared to the 56 270 cars sold during August 2012. Export sales fared far worse, registering a sharp decline of 22.9% in terms of volume.

Closer peek into the sales figures  

Of the total 56 112 vehicles sold locally last month, the clear majority (46 442 cars or 82.8%) represented dealer sales, 11.4% were sales to the vehicle rental industry, while 3.3 % were sales to industry corporate fleets, and 2.5% to government.

“Sales for August were slightly lower than July, but well in line with expectations and the second best August sales month since the market peaked in 2007,” explained Calvyn Hamman, senior VP for Sales and Marketing at Toyota South Africa Motors.

Hamman’s comparison between 2007 and 2013 is not coincidental, since many vehicle owners are now replacing their cars purchased in 2007. This replacement demand is especially evident in dealer sales, which were 2% better when compared to August 2012.

New passenger sales declined during August 2013, with Hamman illustrating this by noting that the number of finance applications that Toyota Financial Services received declined  by 10.82% last month.

Light commercial vehicle sales on the other hand increased by 5.3% to total 14 376 units. Growth in this vehicle segment was boosted by the best-selling car in this category, that being Toyota’s Hilux bakkie and its sales of 3 339 units.

“Dealer sales remain strong in August despite the strike in the automotive industry which is currently in its third week,” said Hamman. “This is because there is normally 6 weeks of stock in the network between the manufacturer, the vehicle delivery network and the dealer network. With this is mind we will only see the effect of the strike in coming months’ sales.”

In other motoring related news, see our top 5 compact SUV choices here.