October 2023 was easily Stellantis South Africa’s best month of the year so far. Here’s what helped the company more than double its sales compared with September…

Stellantis South Africa posted its highest sales tally of the year in October 2023, more than doubling its September effort. What’s behind this sales boost? Well, we decided to take a closer look at the numbers in a bid to find out.

As a reminder, Stellantis distributes the Alfa Romeo, Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Peugeot brands in Mzansi. The multinational firm plans to start local production of the Landtrek in Coega (near Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape) by “early 2026”.

In September 2023, the group managed a total of 353 units across its 6 marques, seeing it place 18th overall. However, that figure grew to 778 units in October (up 120.4%, month on month), representing the company’s strongest month of the year (ahead of June’s total of 596 units) and helping it climb to 14th overall.

As many as 437 of those units were sold in the vehicle-rental space, translating to a considerable 56.2% of Stellantis SA’s registrations last month. Just 278 units were sold through the dealer channel, with the remaining 63 units listed as single registrations (defined as vehicles registered by manufacturers for their own use).

So, which Stellantis products drove this growth in the vehicle-rental space, which Naamsa says accounted for 12.9% of the industry total of 45445 units in October? Well, the Opel Corsa was the group’s best-selling model overall, with as many as 200 of its 218 units coming via the rental channel.

Meanwhile, the Indian-built Citroën C3 (internally known as the CC21) finished the month on 194 units, of which 150 were sold to vehicle-rental companies. A further 50 examples of the Opel Mokka (out of a total of 116 units) were sold via this channel, along with 35 units of the Peugeot Landtrek bakkie (out of a total of 63). Finally, 2 of the 5 examples of the Alfa Romeo Tonale registered in October went to rental firms.

Overall, German brand Opel was Stellantis SA’s strongest marque last month, followed by the French duo of Citroën and Peugeot, then Italian automaker Fiat, American brand Jeep and Italian company Alfa Romeo.

While the rental industry clearly drove Stellantis SA’s best month of 2023 so far, it’s worth noting the company achieved some growth in the dealer channel, too. In this space, registrations improved from 166 units in September to 278 units in October.

Related content

10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa: October 2023

It’s official: Stellantis to assemble 1-tonne bakkie in SA

SA’s best-selling brands and vehicles in October 2023