JOHANNESBURG - SUVs might be on the rise to sales stardom, but hatchbacks still form the backbone of South Africa’s passenger car market as 2019’s sales figures attest to.
In fact, exactly half of the country’s 20 top selling vehicles last year - and we’re including bakkies here - were hatchbacks.
But which ones were the most popular?
In this sales feature we’re taking a look at South Africa’s 10 best selling hatchbacks, and it’s interesting to note that all of them are compact vehicles, with none competing in the C-segment where the Golf rules the roost. In fact, eight of the top 10 hatchbacks have starting prices of less than R200 000, which shows that in these tough economic times, the country is hungry for affordable cars.
Nothing illustrates this more than the fact that Renault’s Kwid surged to third place in the hatch rankings with a monthly average of just under 1000 units a month in 2019.
The top two spots are still occupied by Volkswagen’s old and new Polos though, with the Vivo pipping its newer sibling with a monthly average of 2468 versus 1797.
In the lower half of the list we see Korean hatchbacks dominating, while Japan’s Indian-built Datsun Go and Suzuki Swift rounded out the top 10.
It’s worth noting that the Toyota Etios and Ford Figo numbers also include sedan sales as the two body styles are not listed separately by these manufacturers, however given the proliferation of hatchbacks in those ranges, we are confident that both would still make the top 10 quite comfortably even without the booted variants’ sales.
10 TOP SELLING HATCHBACKS: 2019
1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo
Total sold - 2019: 29 618
Monthly average: 2468
2. Volkswagen Polo
Total sold - 2019: 21 563
Monthly average: 1797
3. Renault Kwid
Total sold - 2019: 11 848
Monthly average: 987
4. Toyota Etios
Total sold - 2019: 9445
Monthly average: 787
5. Hyundai Grand i10
Total sold - 2019: 8520
Monthly average: 710
6. Ford Figo
Total sold - 2019: 7985
Monthly average: 665
7. Hyundai i20
Total sold - 2019: 6993
Monthly average: 583
8. Kia Picanto
Total sold - 2019: 6924
Monthly average: 577
9. Datsun Go
Total sold - 2019: 6335
Monthly average: 528
10. Suzuki Swift
Total sold - 2019: 6242
Monthly average: 520
Best of the rest
Narrowly missing the top 10 was Renault’s Sandero hatch, which in our book deserves to do a little better than its monthly average of 506 units.
In a distant 12th place was Volkswagen’s Golf 7, with an average of 306 units a month. This was followed by the Kia Rio and Ford Fiesta.