The South African new-passenger car market has revealed some interesting peculiarities in the first five months of the year. Sales from January to May show the measure by which smaller brands are suffering the effect of the weak rand, while it also indicates the resilience of some of the performance brands.

In what could be kindly described as a struggling economy, Porsche outsold Subaru and the Fiat group, and almost also Peugeot Citroen South Africa (PCSA).

Ferrari sales have remained stable in the same period, while Maserati sales have shown a strong jump.

All six brands are fully imported.

Looking at the total South African market, new passenger car sales for the first five months of the year were down by 10.2% in 2016 compared with the same period in 2015, at a total of around 151 600 units.

Ferrari sales for the first five months of the year dropped slightly to 40 units, down from 44 units for the same period last year.

Maserati sales jumped 141%, from 12 units in 2015, to 29 units in 2016.

Porsche sales declined from 746 units, to 637 units for the first five months of 2016 – a 14.6% drop.

Porsche sold 279 units in the first five months of 2014.

PCSA sales declined by 27.3%, from 906 units in the first five months last year – at which stage it still outsold Porsche by quite a margin – to 658 units this year.

PCSA sold 1 236 new passenger cars in the first five months of 2014.

Subaru saw sales decline by less than the South African passenger car market, at a 7.2% drop from 453 units to 420 units.

Subaru sold 536 units in the first five months of 2014.

The Fiat group, which sells Fiat and Alfa in South Africa, saw sales tumble by 34%, to 344 new passenger cars for the first five months of 2016, down from 522 units last year.

Fiat sold 1 141 new passenger cars in South Africa in the first five months of 2014.

The Fiat group is set to launch the Fullback bakkie in the country later this year. This vehicle will compete in the light-commercial vehicle market.