By Ostile Kadiege

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) marked over four decades as the best-selling automotive brand in SA with a market share of 25.4% in 2021. This means that one in every four vehicles sold locally last year was a Toyota product. Out of the industry total of 464,122, an aggregate of 117,659 units were delivered by Toyota SA.

As expected, 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. The ‘people mover’ Hiace sold a total of 15,699 models. Together with other light commercial vehicle (LCV) models such as Land Cruiser pick-up and Dyna, propelled TSAM to its highest LCV market share of 42.2%.

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. The Hilux sold 2,426 units while the recently launched Corolla Cross sold 1,752 units. The Starlet found 1,180 new homes and the popular Hiace sold 1,024 units. 

Lexus recorded a total of 51 sales, including 20 ES and 10 RX models. Hino recorded a total of 249 sales. The 300-Series posted 150 units while the 500-Series sold 72 models. From a parts perspective, 1.2 million pieces were supplied to domestic dealers while a further 305,000 units were shipped across the borders in December.

Despite the strong sales shown by TSAM, there has been a decline in new vehicle 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.”