Madagascar Q2 2010: JAC Tojoy among best-sellers

JAC Tojoy

Still very limited, the new car market in Madagascar is dominated by Asian brands: Toyota is in the lead in Q2 2010 at 11.8% (down from 17.9% in Q4 ’09), ahead of Nissan and Mitsubishi. However the big novelty in Q2 is the thunderous arrival of two Chinese brands in the Top 10: JAC in 5th at 7.3% and BYD in 8th at 5.1%.

Given JAC only sells one model in Madagascar, this means the JAC Tojoy is already within the best-selling models in the country, along with the Mitsubishi L200 (probably the best-seller), Nissan Hardbody, Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux. Remember we’re talking 30 to 50 units sold in the space of 3 months to be best-seller in Madagascar.

More commentaries, Top 10 brands ranking table, street scenes and videos here: 

Pos	Brand	Q2 %	Q1 %	Pos	Q4 ’09	Pos
1	Toyota	11.8%	13.4%	1	17.9%	1
2	Nissan	10.2%	7.8%	5	8.9%	2
3	Mitsubishi	9.8%	10.2%	2	8.6%	3
4	Ford	8.2%	8.4%	3	7.0%	4
5	JAC	7.3%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
6	Hyundai	7.3%	8.3%	4	6.1%	5
7	Renault	5.5%	3.3%	9	3.4%	9
8	BYD	5.1%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
9	Mazda	4.5%	4.3%	8	3.6%	7
10	Citroen	2.9%	4.5%	7	3.4%	8

Madagascar is the country where Renault 4’s go to die: the streets are filled with them, mostly converted into taxis. In more remote towns like Nosi Be, up to 8 in 10 cars is a Renault 4! Other very common models include the Peugeot 205, Renault Supercinq and Citroen 2CV: it’s like a trip back to 1980’s France, and it also shows how radically the market has shifted recently from French to Asian brands. A massive missed opportunity for the French here, even though they’re trying to climb back the rankings with the Dacia Logan and Sandero, as well as the Duster launched under the Renault brand in Madagascar.

Below are a couple of videos of the streets of the capital Antananarive:

Madagascar Streets 1 Madagascar Streets 2

Renault 4 in Madagascar

Street Scenes in Antananarivo, Madagascar 2009-2010

Pictures: www.tacometro.cl, www.flickr.com, www.youtube.com