Leon Theron Archives - Heels & Horsepower Magazine

Toyota South Africa and Kaizer Chiefs: A Perfect Fit

vuyi on March 4, 2022

By H&H Admin

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) logo will now be included on the Kaizer Chiefs Football Club’s jersey.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) and Kaizer Chiefs Football Club are pleased to announce that their existing partnership agreement will now include the manufacturer’s logo on the Amakhosi jersey.

The Toyota logo will be emblazoned on the left sleeve of the shirt and will either be black, gold or white – depending on the colour of the shirt.

According to TSAM’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Leon Theron: “Toyota and Kaizer Chiefs have been in partnership for only five years, yet it feels like we have been on this journey forever.

It all started in 2017 when we became the official motor vehicle supplier to Amakhosi – a commitment which was meant to last three years.

“Fast forward to 2022, that collaboration has not waned – on the contrary, we are solidifying our partnership. We are excited that we will now have our Toyota logo emblazoned on the sleeve of Chiefs shirts. Moreover, we could not be more excited as the replica jersey – with similar branding – will soon be available at stores nationwide.”

The existing partnership saw Toyota providing the Club with 20 vehicles to meet all Kaizer Chiefs’ transportation requirements at inception.

With the updated deal, TSAM has added an additional 10 vehicles to the Chiefs fleet – all branded in the famous gold and black colours of Amakhosi. The fleet ranges from hatchbacks, sedans, SUVs, bakkies to panel vans and minibuses.

The new deal will also have a sizeable cash component which will help the Club with its day-to-day operations.

Kaizer Chiefs Marketing & Commercial Director Jessica Motaung, expressed her delight over this new multimillion-rand sponsorship deal that has been signed with Toyota SA.

“It is thrilling for us to once again align with a multinational company such as Toyota, that is so prevalently invested in the growth of sport in South Africa and the world,” says Motaung. “Our partnership is an example of how two brands who are trusted by their customers/supporters can come together in order to deliver value for each other and we have no doubt that this new positioning will see us continue to deliver for each other.

“We are looking forward to more exciting collaborations with team Toyota and we will again work toward taking millions of our supporters with on this journey. We will soon be announcing some great initiatives that will benefit them when they return to stadiums and on digital platforms. This way we will continue to ‘lead the way.’”

Kaizer Chiefs and Toyota will take some key learnings from the last five years and enhance Amakhosi supporters experience and engage for the duration of the partnership.

“We are truly grateful to Kaizer Chiefs that they have afforded us a platform to realise some of our ideals through our shared values. We hope that our association can grow from strength to strength and that we continue to be significant players both on and off the field,” Theron concludes.

Toyota Celebrates Sales Leadership in South Africa

vuyi on January 14, 2022

By H&H Admin

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) marked 42 years as the best-selling automotive brand in South Africa.

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) marked 42 years as the best-selling automotive brand in South Africa with a remarkable market share of 25.4%.This means that one in every four vehicles sold locally in 2021 was a Toyota product. Out of the industry total of 464 122, an aggregate of 117 659 units were delivered by TSAM.

The last time TSAM registered a market share higher than 25% was in 2003, and it was not necessarily a good year for the industry as total automotive sales were just slightly above 380 000.

This was followed by a few years where Toyota garnered a market share just above 19%. Worthy of mention however is that for the past five years, Toyota has been punching above a 20% share – an unprecedented run of success by any local automotive brand in recent history.

Hilux retains its title as the country’s best-selling vehicle with a total of 36 085 units sold – most of which were double cabs. Hiace also continued its supremacy as the ‘people mover’ of choice with a total of 15 699 models sold. The two heroes, assisted by other light commercial vehicle (LCV) models such as Land Cruiser pick-up and Dyna, propelled TSAM to its highest LCV market share of 42.2%.

Toyota’s market share of 19.2% in the passenger segment is the highest in the last 12 years – matching a similar figure in 2018 – and comes in the wake of two stellar performances by the Corolla Cross in November and December.

Other notable figures were posted by Starlet and Urban Cruiser last year – 12 103 and 8 899 respectively for 2021. Toyota’s truck division Hino posted an impressive market share of 25.1% in the Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) segment and registered a 5.5% share in Heavy Commercial Vehicles.

TSAM is also proud that its Parts’ Supply business distributed no less than 16 million items to domestic dealers, while close to 4 million pieces were shipped outside of the country in 2021.

Toyota Sales Breakdown

In December, TSAM continued to power ahead with sales of 9 580 – leading in both Passenger (5 603) and LCV (3 699) segments for the second month in a row. The December retail represents 26.6% of the total sales of 35 948 units reported by NAAMSA.

Stand-out performances were recorded by SA’s favourite bakkie Hilux (2 426); the new Corolla Cross (1 752); the affordable Starlet (1 180) as well as the evergreen Hiace (1 024).

Lexus recorded a total of 51 sales, including 20 ES and 10 RX models. Hino recorded a total of 249 sales. The 300-Series posted 150 units while the 500-Series sold 72 models.

Toyota Parts Sales

From a parts perspective, 1.2 million pieces were supplied to domestic dealers while a further 305 000 units were shipped across the borders in December.

According Leon Theron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM: “The last month of the year is not traditionally successful when it comes vehicles sales. This is mainly due to the limited days of doing business as well as many customers and dealers withholding vehicle registrations in order to record new models in the New Year. However, we are truly grateful for the 26.6% market share recorded last month.”

Theron also paid tribute to Toyota’s employees, dealers and other business partners for their support: “When we established the brand in South Africa in 1961, we focused on establishing a wide dealer network that directly serves customers. We genuinely appreciate all those who have been part of the Toyota journey to date, including dealers, staff as well as all the various brand ambassadors and customers.”

Toyota Wins the Most Awards in SA Car of the Year Competition

vuyi on October 8, 2021

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) is proud to have won three categories in the 2021 South African Guild of Mobility Journalists (SAGMJ) Car of the Year competition.

In the Budget classification, Starlet came out tops, with the legendary Land Cruiser Prado scoring the number-one spot in the Adventure SUV category while SA’s favourite bakkie – Hilux – won Double Cab of the year. The latter also claimed second place overall, beating 21 other finalists across the nine categories.

The competition was open to vehicles that were launched in South Africa between November 2019 and April 2021. Due to COVID-19 related restrictions, it was also the first time that the scoring was done completely electronically (there were no official test days in which all the finalists could be evaluated at the same facility by the jurors). The scoring was based on the jurors’ experiences testing the vehicles throughout the year.

The fact that we have won three categories with vastly different models is testament to our diverse offering.

– Leon Theron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM

According to Toyota South Africa, it’s category winners – Prado, Starlet and Hilux – have been performing remarkably well on the local sales charts. The Prado has been averaging around 90 units a month while the Starlet and Hilux have cumulatively sold more than 6 000 and 25 000 units respectively since the beginning of the year.

“We are truly grateful for the recognition received from the local media. The fact that we have won three categories with vastly different models is testament to our diverse offering – providing our customers with as many options as possible,” said Leon Theron, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at TSAM.

Photo Cred: Cornell van Heedern