By Otsile Kadiege

In the month of March 2021, Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) sold a total of 10,797 vehicles – 5,783 were Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), 4,726 were passenger vehicles, 155 were MCV, with HCV and Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicles segments recording 98 and 35 units respectively. TSAM’s total also accounted for a 24.2% market share out of industry total of 44,217 units sold.

According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA): “Aggregate domestic sales in March 2021, at 44,217 units, reflected a substantial increase of 10 671 units, or 31,8%, from the 33,546 vehicles sold in March last year. Export sales also recorded a huge increase in March 2021 and at 40,026 units reflected a gain of 11,137 units, or 38,6%, compared to the 28,889 vehicles exported in March 2020.”

The Toyota Hilux and Hiace recorded a class-leading sales of 3,941 and 1,348 units apiece in the LCV segment. Notable performances in the passenger segment included the all-new Urban Cruiser with close to 1,000 units (977), Fortuner (966), Starlet (721), Corolla Quest (582) and Agya (531). The Japanese automaker’s niche luxury brand, Lexus, had an admirable run with NX (14), ES (11) LX (9) and UX (9).

The Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM, Leon Theron: “We are grateful to our dealers, customers and the entire Toyota workforce for positive and encouraging results from last month. We do however remain cautiously optimistic as to what April may offer the industry, as it a holiday month. As TSAM, we continue trusting in our diverse product line-up as well as the incredibly strong dealer network that has always been the cornerstone of our business.”