Johannesburg: Granted, April is never a good month for vehicle sales, with its abundance of much-loved public holidays leading to fewer selling days.
However, last month the LCV and bakkie market took a far bigger hit than the conventional passenger cars. While the latter saw year-on-year growth of 12.9%, bakkie sales declined by 11.9% versus the same month last year.
While the market continued to be constrained by international supply chain problems, the flooding disaster in KwaZulu-Natal caused its own set of disruptions, including port delays and the temporary closure of Toyota’s production plant in Prospecton.
Although Toyota sold fewer Hiluxes than usual last month, the carmaker still managed an impressive and market-dominating figure of 2788 units. The majority of these were Double Cabs, which accounted for 1463 sales, versus 969 Single Cabs and 356 Xtra Cabs.
The Ford Ranger retook second spot in April with 1140 unit sales, and we’ll no doubt see a huge improvement on these figures later in the year when the new Ranger debuts.
Nissan’s NP200 was third (966), trailed by the Isuzu D-Max (777), which was undergoing a model changeover to the new-generation in April. It will be interesting to see how the new Isuzu performs in the coming months.
10 BEST SELLING BAKKIES: APRIL 2022
Narrowly missing the top 10 list last month was the Volkswagen Amarok with 162 sales and the Kia K2700, with 142.
Best of the worst were the Mahindra Bolero (78) and Suzuki Super Carry (75), while the Mitsubishi Triton managed an improved figure of 63, having recently launched a more affordable double cab option.
Also in the running was the JAC T8 (48), while the Peugeot Landtrek managed 36 sales. Its Mazda BT-50 rival was way down the scale with just 12 sales in April, just narrowly beating the JAC T6 (11) and Volkswagen Transporter PU (7).
Although the bakkie market is performing poorly in relative terms, the overall market continues to surprise with its resilience.
“Sales (all segments) in April 2022 exceeded those in April 2021 by 4.3% against all odds when one considers the effects of the massive flooding and subsequent disruptions in KwaZulu-Natal, fewer selling days due to the many public holidays, as well as school holidays and the ongoing restricted vehicle supply because of the worldwide shortage of semiconductors,” said Mark Dommisse, Chairperson of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA).
“It was heartening to see that 32 809 units, or 88.4% of new vehicle sales, moved through the dealer retail channel during the month, while the rental industry played a key role in contributing 9.1% to total sales and a significant 12.5% to the passenger car market,” Dommisse added.