Despite the negative impact of South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown, Volkswagen continues to perform well in the local passenger car market.
The company said it has seen a recovery in car sales in recent months, and it leads the market in sales for the year to date.
“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,” said Mike Glendinning, Sales and Marketing Director for Volkswagen Group South Africa.
From January to October 2020, VW sold 42,354 vehicles in South Africa – and it currently has a 21.5% share of the local passenger car market.
Polo Vivo and T-Cross
The Polo VW, which is made in South Africa, was a star performer for VW in 2020, said the company.
VW has sold 15,494 Vivos this year, which range in price from just over R218,000 to R295,000.
The recently-launched VW T-Cross – a compact SUV – has also performed well, and is the company’s best-selling imported vehicle.
VW has sold 3,965 T-Cross vehicles in South Africa this year, which range in price from just over R345,000 to R442,000.
Strong export comeback
Another area hit hard by the country’s lockdown was the exporting of vehicles to international markets – particularly during level 5 restrictions.
The lockdown rules resulted in zero exports for VW South Africa in April.
Fortunately, there was a recovery in the months that followed.
“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,” said the company.
Up to the end of October, VW has exported 68,232 locally-manufactured Polos to both left and right-hand drive markets.
October itself also delivered the highest number of exports, with 10,576 vehicles shipped.
“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.”
The company added that it plans to finish 2020 with momentum and will launch its latest SUV – the T-Roc – later this year.
The T-Roc is currently available for pre-order from VW, with prices starting at R489,400.
VW will also put the 190kW version of the Amarok double-cab bakkie on sale before the end of 2020, it concluded.
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