Volkswagen Polo pips India-made Figo, Etios in 2012's title race in South Africa

The India made Toyota Etios and Ford Figo would now have to wait at least till January 2014 to take the highest honour in the South African market as 2012 proved to be another year of German dominance.

Polo Driver reported this week that the Polo Vivo (previous gen model available in hatch and sedan) and the new Polo (the spec selling in India, in hatch and sedan formats) are year 2012's best selling passenger cars in South Africa.

The two carlines topped sales charts clocking 34,873 units and 28,667 units respectively, cornering a sensational 14.4% market share for the Polo brand.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Volkswagen group (Volkswagen and Audi combined) emerged as the country's best selling brand commanding 22.3% of the market. Another highlight in this academic performance is that the Polo emerged as the leading seller in December 2012, dethroning the Vivo which was consistently on top throughout 2012.

Toyota sold 14,950 units of the Etios twins since deliveries began in May while Ford managed to close the year with 14,376 units of the Figo hatchback. Incidentally December was the best month in Ford India's history for exports.

These two products are exported from India. Honda only recently began exporting the Brio from India, and Tata ships a few hundred units of the Vista alongside the newly launched Manza to South Africa every year.

[Source - PoloDriver.com]