These were South Africa’s top selling used cars in 2023
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The foot has certainly not come off the gas in the used car market. In 2023 the number of used cars sold rose by 4.6% year-on-year. Overall, 367,075 used cars with an average selling price of R399,163 were sold, according to AutoTrader data.
Sales of an additional 17,000 units in 2023 and increased average selling price helped drive up the total value of used cars sold by 7.7% year-on-year. Amounting to a whopping R146.5bn, 2023’s figure outperformed the previous year’s by R10.5bn.
The Toyota brand continued to fuel car shoppers’ passions. Like it did in 2022, the Japanese brand sold the most used cars (60,296) in 2023. Volkswagen and Ford remain in the slipstream, with BMW and Mercedes-Benz making up the top five.
Asian brands continued to make inroads into the domestic car market.
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“Suzuki was the star of the used sales growth, posting the biggest year-on-year growth of 28.8%. Kia, too, was in the driver’s seat with growth of 16.6%,” said AutoTrader CEO George Mienie.
German carmakers might find the data worrisome. Of the top 10 brands, only German premium automakers BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi (which lost two spots in the ranking) posted a dip in sales. Even Volkswagen’s ever-popular VW Polo, the third most-sold model in 2023, is coming under pressure with used sales slipping by 4.54% year-on-year.
Mirroring 2022, the most popular models were the Ford Ranger in first place with 20,156 used cars sold, followed by the Toyota Hilux, VW Polo, VW Polo Vivo and Toyota Fortuner. In 2022 the Ranger bakkie just managed to clinch the win over rival Hilux. However, in 2023 the Ranger widened the gap, growing sales by 15.96% against the Hilux’s 2.25%. The model with the highest sales growth was the Kia Picanto. The Korean hatchback posted sales growth of 18%.
Volkswagen’s much-loved hatchback, the VW Polo 1.0TSI, bagged the variant sales crown, selling 9,318 units ahead of sibling VW Polo Vivo 1.4, and a trio of bakkies in the form of the Toyota Hilux 2.8GD-6, Ford Ranger XL and Toyota Hilux 2.4GD-6. Adventure SUV Jeep Wrangler Sahara made a showing in sixth position with 3,007 sales.