Volkswagen leads South African passenger car market for most of year

Volkswagen South Africa continues to make a positive comeback in the local car market after shouldering the effects of the level 5 national lockdown earlier in 2020.

“Even though we won’t see a repeat of our record-breaking 2019 volumes, we have made incremental volume gains and posted a record year-to-date market share thanks to a strong performance from our dealer network,” Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) sales and marketing director Mike Glendinning said.  

Passenger car market down 33.3% year-on-year

The Volkswagen passenger cars brand sold 42,354 vehicles in the local market in the first 10 months of 2020. The passenger car market is down year-on-year by 33.3% and VW’s sales showed a 29% year-on-year decline.

The company’s passenger car market share increased by 1.1% to 21.5% when compared to October 2019’s figure of 20.4%.

“This year has been challenging for all South Africans and as a brand that has been in the local market for close to 70 years, we invested back into our communities by heralding the Drive Local campaign.

“The Drive Local campaign saw us building a field hospital to assist COVID-19 patients in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, using our employees’ technical expertise to manufacture medical equipment as well as supporting vulnerable communities through funding non-profit organisations,” Glendinning said.

“The Drive Local campaign urged people to champion proudly South African products and services. For our brand the results are evident in the sales and market share figures we recorded in the first 10 months of this year.”

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Polo Vivo still VW’s top seller

The locally manufactured Polo Vivo is Volkswagen’s best-selling range, with 15,494 units sold in 2020. And, with just a little over a year since being launched in South Africa, the T-Cross is now the brand’s best-selling imported vehicle, with 3,965 units sold in the first 10 months of 2020.

The Volkswagen plant in Uitenhage showed strong export figures during the first 10 months of 2020, despite the impact of national lockdown which halted production.

October best month for exports so far

To date, the Uitenhage plant has exported 68,232 locally manufactured Polos to both left and right-hand drive markets. Of the 10 months, October delivered the highest number with 10,576 vehicles exported.

“Though our export numbers are lower than in some previous years, this performance is testament to the commitment and perseverance of VWSA and each of its employees,” acting production director Bernd Schaberg said.

“We have recovered from a low point of zero exports in April to a steady performance in the months that followed.

“Our priority for the rest of 2020 is to continue building on this growth by manufacturing quality vehicles – in the safest way possible for our employees.”

T-Roc to be launched next

Glendinning added: “As a brand, we want to finish 2020 strong. Later this month [November], we will launch the newest derivative in the T SUV range, the T-Roc.

“Sales of one of South Africa’s most powerful double cab bakkies, the Amarok 190kW, will also start this month.”