Full-year 2019 sales saw Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) dominating the passenger car market with 89 353 vehicles sold in South Africa.

“2019 was an incredible year for VWSA. Not only did the Uitenhage factory produce a record 161 954 vehicles, surpassing the previous record of 137 758 vehicles produced in 2011, VWSA also ended the year with 23.4% passenger market share (up 0.6% from 2018), meaning that close to a quarter of all cars sold in the South African market are from the Volkswagen Group,” said Mike Glendinning, Director: Sales and Marketing, VWSA.

According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), South Africa recorded domestic sales of 536 626 units in 2019, a decline of 15 601 units or 2.8%.

<The Volkswagen brand sold 72 461units in South Africa last year. The Polo Vivo was the best-selling passenger car in South Africa with 29 619 vehicles sold in 2019. The locally-manufactured model topped the A0 segment with a share of 24.5%. The Volkswagen Passenger brand also ended 2019 with a record-market share of 20.4% (0.6% improvement from 2018), the highest since 1996.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles reported deliveries of 8 397 units in the light commercial vehicles segment last year. The Commercial Vehicles brand achieved a market share of 5.2%, which is a growth of 0.1% when compared to 2018. The Amarok Double Cab topped the sales charts with 2 596 vehicles sold in 2019.

Looking ahead

2020 will be an exciting year for VWSA which will see key model introductions for Volkswagen in South Africa. This year, Volkswagen will launch the T-Cross 1.5 TSI 110kW and 70kW models, the T-Roc (Volkswagen’s sporty premium SUV which slots between the T-Cross and Tiguan), the special-edition Golf GTI TCR which will see only 300 units sold in South Africa as well as a facelift in the T6 Commercial Vehicles range.