More vehicles sold in 2011

Total new vehicles sold in 2011 rose to 12 409 units, a 9.7% increase compared to 11 313 units sold in the previous year driven by strong sales in the commercial vehicles segment which sold a record  7000 units in the period under review.
Figures show that new vehicle sales continued on an upward trend during December, with a total number of 1177 units being sold – the highest number of vehicles sales ever recorded for this month. December, according to analysts, is usually characterised by lower sales as people defer their purchases to the new year.
Although the number was slightly lower than the all-time high of November (1243), it was still 25% higher on a year-on-year basis. Sales were driven by especially strong light commercial vehicle sales, which recorded their second highest number of sales since the series started in 1997.
On a month -on-month basis, passenger vehicle sales (429 units) were 13.2% lower than in November, although year-on-year growth was 7.8%. Passenger vehicle sales for 2011 totalled 5322 units, increasing by 10.7% from the 4 807 units sold in 2010. The 12 month cumulative passenger vehicle sales continued to climb, growing by 0.6% month-on-month.
Volkswagen regained some market share in this category in December, with 35% of all new passenger vehicles sold while Toyota at 24% saw a reversal in fortunes. Overall in 2011, Volkswagen had 29% of all new passenger vehicles sold, Toyota 22% with Chevrolet and Ford  coming third and fourth with 8% and 9% of the market share respectively.
Commercial vehicle sales remained very strong at 748 units sold in December. This was basically unchanged from November, where a 4% month-on-month average  decrease has been recorded in December since 1997. Annually commercial vehicle sales increased by 38% in December. Commercial vehicles sold in 2011 totalled 7087 units compared to 6506 units in 2010. This represents an 8.9% year-on-year increase and is the first time that more than 7000 units have been sold in a 12-month period.
Sales of heavy commercial vehicles, extra-heavy commercial vehicles and buses were disappointing, with only 24 units being sold compared to the 4-month average of 57 units.
Toyota experienced excellent sales in the light commercial vehicles category, claiming 56% of the market share for December. For 2011, Toyota had 49% of the market, while Nissan came in second at 12% with Chevrolet and Isuzu each claiming 11% of the market share over the year.