Vehicle market keeps growing

DESPITE facing numerous headwinds, including the disruptions caused by the recent flooding in KZN, South Africa’s new vehicle market continued on its gradual path of recovery in April.

In spite of the associated supply chain disruptions and the fact that April was a shorter month due to several public holidays, the industry still managed a total of 37 107 units. This represents an increase of 4.3% versus April 2021.

The passenger car market led the way with 26 653 unit sales and 12.9% year-on-year growth, while the light commercial vehicle and bakkie sector declined by 11.9% to 9 558 units.

The medium and heavy commercial vehicle segments also showed declines of 9.4% and 4.6% respectively.

Total vehicle export sales increased by 16.0% to 30788 units in April.

On the local sales chart, Toyota led the way by a huge margin, with total sales of 8 952 units. It was followed by the Volkswagen Group (5 084).