Jaco Van Der Merwe

By Jaco Van Der Merwe

Head of Motoring


Corolla Cross makes huge statement by outselling Polo pair

Toyota SUV hits the ground running to become SA's best-selling passenger car in its first month.


Judging on new car sales figures from November, Toyota has found yet another winning recipe in the Corolla Cross.

Toyota produced three of the top six best-selling local passenger cars to secure 28.6% of the market share last month. In addition, the Japanese carmaker also produced the top two best-selling light commercial vehicles to grab 41.7% market share in the LCV segment.

In total, 41 588 new vehicles were sold locally in November, 2 573 more units – a 6.6% increase – from the 39 015 vehicles sold in November 2020.

The Corolla Cross announced its arrival in grand style by selling 1 757 units in its debut month to top the passenger car sales chart. The locally built SUV managed to leapfrog both the Volkswagen Polo Vivo (1 608) and Polo (1 221), a pair that were relegated to second and fourth respectively.

The good start for the Corolla Cross, that is assembled in Durban and starts at a price of R349 900, means that Toyota’s projection of selling 20 000 units per year could be well within its reach.

ALSO READ: Toyota Corolla Cross accessory range revealed and priced

The Toyota Starlet (1 477) had another excellent month in November to finish the passenger car sales chart in third place for the second month running.

Lead by the S-Presso (926) in fifth place and Swift (859) in eighth, Suzuki had another memorable month. The Japanese carmaker sold 3 082 cars to finish third in total sales behind Toyota (11 892) and VW (5 498) to earn a share of 10.72% in the passenger car market.

The rest of the top 10 passenger cars for November includes the Toyota Agya (911) at number six, the Renault Kwid (876) at number seven, the VW T-Cross (838) in ninth place and Kia Picanto (729) in tenth place.

The Toyota Hilux (2 558) again tops the LCV chart, with its stablemate the Hiace (1 763) finishing second.

The Isuzu D-Max (1 666) finished in third place, ahead of the Ford Ranger (1 165) at number four.

The GWM P-Series (655) was fifth on the chart, outselling the new Nissan Navara (617). The rest of the top 10 LCVs include the Nissan NP200 (589), the Mahindra Scorpio Pik Up (506), the GWM Steed (344) and the Toyota Land Cruiser PU (229).

The Peugeot Landtrek bakkie made a solid debut in the cutthroat bakkie market with 71 units sold in its first month.

For more information on the November sales figures, click here.

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