Mahindra South Africa is one of the country’s fastest growing passenger vehicle and bakkie brands, according to the latest car sales figures.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa recently combined the sales for the first three quarters of this year.
Mahindra had surpassed its full sales volume of 5 664 units by last month, and is now on track to reach a new overall sales record.
This achievement is particularly significant, given the general decline in the South African new vehicle sales market.
The overall market for the year to end-September is down by 3,5%, with the largest volume decline in the passenger vehicle market, which has declined by 4,9% or 13 468 vehicles when compared to the same period last year.
In contrast, Mahindra has grown by 33,4% to reach 5 584 sales for the year to end-September.
Mahindra believes its mix of SUVs and pickup trucks, which offers good value for money, its growing network of dealers and a solid history of customer service, are helping its growth.
This year’s sales success follows an aggressive marketing and expansion phase, which started in May last year with the official opening of the assembly facility for the Mahindra pickup range in Durban.
This facility assembles the entire pickup range for South Africa and neighbouring countries.
Since then, Mahindra has also refreshed two of its most popular models, the entry-level KUV100 NXT and the large XUV500.
The KUV100 NXT has become the fastest growing subcompact crossover in its class., thanks in part to the introduction of an entry-level K2+ variant that offers two airbags and ABS brakes for only R142 999.