New vehicle sales enjoyed a strong end to the year, according to data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA).

The group’s data shows that overall vehicle sales over December 2019 totalled 41,698 units – 4.2% better than December 2018, with new cars up 9.1% from a year earlier.

For 2019 however, overall sales declined 2.8% to 536,626 units, with car sales down 2.7% to 355,384 units.

The top-selling vehicles in December included the usual suspects:

Toyota Hilux (3,080 units); VW Polo Vivo (1,779); Ford Ranger (1,724); Renault Kwid (1,631); Toyota Etios (1,433);

The VW Polo, with 1,410 units, was sixth. New to Volkswagen’s line up is the T-Cross, the German car maker’s response to the growing compact crossover sector.

The T-Cross was the third-highest SUV brand over December, behind only the Toyota Fortuner, and Ford EcoSport. Kia’s Seltos SUV was the fifth best-seller, having launched in South Africa late last year.

Top 10 best-selling SUVs in December 2019

Toyota Fortuner (974 units) – Price from R505,600

Ford EcoSport (837 units): Price from R271,500

VW T-Cross (685 units) Price from R343,300

VW Tiguan (630 units) Price from R449,800

Kia Seltos (510 units) Price from R353,995

Toyota RAV4 (496 units) Price from R436,200

Hyundai Creta (420 units) Price from R364,900



Hyundai Tucson (378 units) Price from R432,900

Renault Duster (328 units) Price from R260,900

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