Vehicle market outperforms slow economy

DESPITE economic uncertainty, the South African vehicle market has weathered the storm and gone from strength to strength.

This is according to new vehicle sales statistics from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), which showed growth in domestic sales last month for the fifth month in a row.

A report on motor trade sales for September, released by StatsSA yesterday, also showed overall year-on-year growth of 3.3%.

New vehicle sales, in particular, showed positive growth of 7.6%.

According to the Naamsa statistics, a total of 51 037 new vehicles were sold in October, an increase of 4.6% from the same month last year. Passenger vehicles accounted for 3 316 units. “The improvement was despite the continued difficult economic environment compounded by political and economic policy uncertainty,” Naamsa said in a statement.

“Over the past five months, the domestic automotive market segments [have] held up relatively well despite the challenging environment.

“Sharply reduced new vehicle pricing, the July reduction in interest rates and continued attractive sales incentives – as well as continued demand by car rental companies – all contributed to improved local sales momentum.”

Vehicle exports for the month had, however, dwindled, with a decline of 8.3% in comparison with October last year.

“The decline was attributable in part to the impact of the recent massive storm, which adversely affected Durban port operations and also contributed to a loss of export production at the Toyota plant.”