South Africa is a strange car market to analyse. Brands under AMH including Hyundai, Kia, Daihatsu simply refuse to release any sales data by brand. A few other brands do likewise and now in December Mercedes has decided to stop reporting sales through the main body to release sales, Naamsa. This is while it deals with an investigation into anti-competitive practices by various European truck manufacturers. What has that got to do with Mercedes car sales in South Africa? There is more to this than what they are saying.
Why doesn't a government agency get all the registration data together and release it whether the likes of AMH, with its laager mentality, want it or not? It's an important market and should be more open. So with what I can get:
1 VW 75,500 19.1%
2 Toyota 52,400 13.2% 3 GM 34,100 8.6%
4 Ford 26,700 6.7%
5 Mercedes 24,300 6.1%
6 BMW 23,600 5.9%
7 Nissan 17,100 4.3%
8 Audi 14,500 3.7%
9 Renault 10,400 2.6%
10 Honda 7,800 2.0%
11 Chrysler 7,100 1.8%
12 Suzuki 5,500 1.4%
13 Land Rover 5,150 1.3%
14 Mazda 4,800 1.2%
15 Volvo 3,250 0.8%
16 Peugeot 2,800 0.7%
17 Fiat 2,650 0.7%
18 MINI 2,500 0.6% 19 Citroen 1,950 0.5%
20 Tata 1,920 0.5%
21 Mitsubishi 1,750 0.4%
22 Subaru 1,250 0.3%
23 Lexus 1,175 0.3%
24 Porsche 1,150 0.3%
25 Alfa Romeo 820 0.2%
26 Jaguar 520 0.1%
27 Mahindra 450 0.1%
28 Chana 350 0.1%
29 smart 130 0.0%
30 Maserati 70 0.0%
AMH 64,750 16.3%
Total 396,300
Some Winners: VW(+35.6%), GM (+31.1%), Ford (+48.2%), Nissan (39.2%), Chrysler (+38.8%) and MINI (+40.7%). Some Losers: Honda (-6.1%), Mazda (-33.7%), Tata (-35%) and Mitsubishi (-27.7%).
My take: Car sales were strong in the republic for 2011. It's a pity only Naamsa make an effort to let us know about it.
Source: Naamsa

Car Sales South Africa: 2011

I earlier published car sales for South Africa, and someone asked about including Light Commercial Vehicles too. So here it is. The first set of figures are LCV sales only. Toyota is the top brand by far. AMH do not release figures by brand.
1 Toyota 52,423 10%
2 Nissan 22,825 3%
3 GM 18,303 17% 4 Ford 14,746 1%
5 Isuzu 13,228 22%
6 VW 8,759 205%
7 Mazda 3,772 -2%
8 Mitsubishi 1,559 -21%
9 Mahindra 1,372 27%
10 Tata 1,268 -14%
11 Land Rover 628 29%
12 Fiat 514 -44%
13 Mercedes 501 93%
14 Chana 399 -54%
15 Peugeot 189 16%
16 Renault 145
17 Citroen 80
18 Changan 59
AMH 8,595 -6%
Total 149,365 6% increase.
The VW Amorak Ute is lifting sales in the commercial sector for the Brand. Still a way to go to pressure Toyota though.
Now for the top 20 combined car/LCV brands in the RSA:
1 Toyota 104,847
2 VW 84,255
3 GM 52,429 4 Ford 41,418
5 Nissan 39,889
6 Mercedes 24,797
7 BMW 23,560
8 Audi 14,531
9 Isuzu 13,228
10 Renault 10,510
11 Mazda 8,561
12 Honda 7,829
13 Chrysler 7,075
14 Land Rover 5,761
15 Suzuki 5,462
16 Mitsubishi 3,293
17 Volvo 3,241
18 Tata 3,188
19 Fiat 3,182
20 Peugeot 3,002
Source: Naamsa.
LR Pic: drivesouthafrica.co.za

Car/LCV Sales RSA: 2011

In South Africa, car brands are either associated of Naamsa or AMH. The former publishes data openly but the latter not so. AMH has recently talked of releasing sales data but I have not found anything. Therefore the brands under them can get no recognition here or anywhere. The brands listed here are Naamsa brands only. They are also passenger car figures, not including light commercials which would be mainly pick up trucks. This would show a different picture, so below I will list LCV sales by Naamsa brand.
To the cars first. Total RSA sales are up 10%,  so Toyota (+25%) had a good year, as did Nissan (+21%). The Mercedes figure is very close to but not absolutely accurate. Indian brand Mahindra and Jaguar both had strong gains. AMH brands grew 16% and took 17% of the market.
The first three columns show 2010 to 2012 ranking, the second column in from the right is increase or decrease, and the extreme right shows market share for the major brands.

1	1	1		VW	82,362	9%	18.7%
2	2	2		Toyota	65,645	25%	14.9%
3	3	3		GM	33,887	-1%	7.7%
6	4	4		Ford	25,915	-3%	5.9%
5	6	5		BMW	24,745	5%	5.6%
4	5	6		Mercedes	22,075	-9%	5.0%
9	7	7		Nissan	20,632	21%	4.7%
10	8	8		Audi	16,743	15%	3.8%
11	9	9		Renault	10,217	-1%	2.3%
14	11	10		Chrysler	9,589	36%	2.2%
12	10	11		Honda	9,094	16%	2.1%
16	13	12		Land Rover	6,688	30%	1.5%
13	14	13		Mazda	4,827	1%	1.1%
15	12	14		Suzuki	4,724	-14%	1.1%
20	16	15		Peugeot	3,394	21%
22	17	16		Fiat	3,307	24%
17	15	17		Volvo	2,983	-8%
18	20	18		Tata	2,796	46%
23	18	19		MINI	2,794	11%
21	21	20		Mitsubishi	2,619	51%
24	19	21		Citroen	1,949	0%
30	27	22		Mahindra	1,451	221%
27	24	23		Porsche	1,436	27%
26	23	24		Lexus	1,371	16%
31	25	25		Alfa Romeo	944	16%
28	26	26		Jaguar	910	75%
25	22	27		Subaru	861	-31%
-	-	28		Infiniti	127	new
	Naamsa			Others	292
	Naamsa			Total	364,377	10%
	AMH			Total	75,278	16%	17.1%
	RSA			Total	439,655	11%

Now for LCVs. You can see Toyota is by far the biggest brand, when car and LCV sales are combined. Toyota is so strong here, but Nissan had a good increase. AMH brands have just 5.7% of LCV sales and its 3% growth was slower than the total 4%.

1	1	1		Toyota	50,629	-3%	32.4%
2	2	2		Nissan	29,147	28%	18.7%
3	3	3		GM	19,556	7%	12.5%
4	4	4		Ford	16,403	11%	10.5%
5	5	5		Isuzu	13,392	1%	8.6%
8	6	6		VW	8,505	-3%	5.5%
12	9	7		Mahindra	2,308	68%	1.5%
7	7	8		Mazda	1,973	-48%	1.3%
11	10	9		Tata	1,608	27%	1.0%
10	8	10		Mitsubishi	958	-39%
15	11	11		Land Rover	776	24%
16	13	12		Mercedes	513	2%
13	12	13		Fiat	458	-11%
-	16	14		Renault	339	134%
17	15	15		Peugeot	228	21%
19	17	16		Citroen	167	109%
	Naamsa			Others	234
				AMH	8,833	3%	5.7%
				Total	156,027	4%

Data source: Thanks to
Naamsa
Picture source: Thanks to
www.netcarshow.com

Car Sales RSA (South Africa): 2012

As  mentioned in the RSA sales by brand, this data excludes AMH brands who fail to disclose data. That is their loss and more power the Naamsa brands listed here who do promote themselves through openness.
What we do see is a fairly even mix of brands, without any region favoured over others.  It includes Light Commercial vehicles too, which I would rather have missed on. Seeing two Land Rover and two Jeep models shows the nature of the country.

1	VW Polo Vivo	34,873	-1%		Japan
2	Toyota Hilux	34,396	-9%		20 Models
3	VW Polo	28,667	17%		40%
4	Chevrolet Utility	19,084	8%
5	Nissan NP200	17,789	45%		Europe
6	Toyota Corolla/Auris	16,452	-14%		18 Models
7	Ford Ranger	15,662	139%		36%
8	Toyota Etios	14,950	new
9	Ford Figo	14,376	-6%		USA
10	Isuzu KB	13,392	1%		12 Models
11	Toyota Quantum	12,965	19%		24%
12	Toyota Fortuner	12,004	4%
13	BMW 3 Series	11,398	-3%
14	Toyota Yaris	8,802	-14%
15	Nissan NP300	8,708	19%
16	Chevrolet Aveo	6,992	-22%
17	VW Golf	6,881	-3%
18	Renault Sandero	6,580	-1%
19	Chevrolet Sonic	6,475	+++
20	Chevrolet Spark	6,467	-13%
21	Chevrolet Cruze	6,187	-15%
22	VW Amarok	5,724	-7%
23	Ford Fiesta	5,595	-13%
24	BMW 1 Series	5,569	75%
25	Audi A4	5,425	8%
26	Nissan Micra	4,916	12%
27	VW Jetta	4,720	61%
28	Toyota Avanza	4,562	15%
29	Nissan Juke	4,360	196%
30	Nissan Qashqai	4,209	4%
31	Ford Focus	3,515	22%
32	Honda Jazz	3,503	-1%
33	VW Tiguan	2,981	92%
34	Toyota Aygo	2,888	34%
35	Audi A3	2,754	-10%
36	Land Rover Discovery	2,738	7%
37	Toyota Land Cruiser	2,609	-5%
38	Nissan Livina	2,585	30%
39	Chevrolet Captiva	2,510	-1%
40	Nissan Navara	2,418	-20%
41	Nissan Tiida	2,276	-19%
42	VW Caddy	2,201	17%
43	Range Rover Evoque	2,105	230%
44	Jeep Grand Cherokee	2,077	89%
45	Audi A1	2,069	-4%
46	Jeep Compass	2,057	288%
47	Honda Civic	1,999	100%
48	BMW X3	1,980	13%
49	BMW 5 Series	1,889	-15%
50	Audi Q5	1,709	1%

Car/LCV Sales South Africa By Model: 2012