Toyota South Africa
LEAD the WAY in September
Toyota South Africa Motors lead a strong September sales month after it delivered the keys to 10 171 new Toyota, Lexus and Hino vehicles to customers. This represents an 18.7% share of a large 56 364 unit September market.
“September is traditionally a strong month as it is the end of a quarter and we enter the strong pre-holiday sales cycle of major fleet buyers such as vehicle rental companies.
“Despite these drivers the market exceeded our expectations although one should be wary of comparing it strictly with the comparative month last year, when the market was negatively influenced by industry wide industrial action,” says Dr Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa Motors and Managing Officer of Toyota Motor Corporation.
More evidence to this fact is seen in vehicle sales to rental companies and single unit sales that grew by more than 44% in September compared to the same month last year. Even when adjusted for the influences of industrial action, the market still witnessed the highest sales to rental companies for the month of September on record.
All segments of the market showed healthy gains in September. The passenger vehicle market grew by no less than 30% in September, while the commercial vehicle market grew by 38.4% and 25.7% for medium and heavy commercial vehicles respectively.
Toyota highlights in the passenger vehicle market include a very strong sales month for the Toyota Corolla (2 057 units) and the Fortuner, with sales of 1 021 units. The Fortuner, South Africa’s favourite sport utility vehicle, benefitted from renewed interest following the recent introduction of the new model and extended range.
The same applied to the new Hilux, where pent up demand for the new model pushed sales to a record 3 521 units in September.
Vehicle exports remained strong and showed very impressive year on year growth of 106.9%. Despite this Toyota noted a drop in export sales, which can be partly attributed to a general softening in the demand from some European markets and partly due to the Toyota SA Motors plant in Prospecton’s change over to the new Toyota Hilux and Fortuner models.
“We expect the market to maintain its momentum in the last quarter of 2011, but we will continue to keep an eye on macro economic factors that influence private buyers. This includes the most recent increases in fuel cost and the general rise in cost of living costs, especially in major metropolitan areas,” says Dr Van Zyl.
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September 2011
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September 2010
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% change
(2011 vs. 2010)
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% change
(year to date)
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Total market
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56 364
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41 825
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+30%
|
+16.2%
|
|
Passenger market
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37 832
|
29 981
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+26.2%
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+17.8%
|
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Exports
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25 933
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12 534
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+106.9%
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+28.3%
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4th October 2011
