Sales of new vehicles plunged over the past month, says the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa).
Association members reported 50 084 new vehicles sold during September this year, compared with 57 599 sold during the same month the year before.
The 13% drop was a ”significant decline”, the association said in a statement on Tuesday.
Breaking down the sales figures, Naamsa said the new passenger-car market had not only dropped significantly year on year, but also since the previous month.
”New passenger-car sales [during September 2007] at 32 432 units reflected a significant decline of 5 343 units, or 14,1%, compared with the 37 775 new cars sold during September 2006.
”Compared with the previous month of August 2007, which was recorded to be the best performing month for passenger cars sales in 2007, and during which 37 712 new cars had been sold, the new car market had also shown a significant decline of 5 280 units, or 14%.”
Naamsa said demand for new commercial vehicles ”remained fundamentally strong”.
”Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 14 739 units during September, 2007 reflected a decline of … 11,3% compared with the unit sales of the corresponding month last year.
”Sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry reflected a mixed picture and the September 2007 sales, at 1 181 units and 1 732 units respectively, had recorded a decline of 321 units, or 21,4%, in the case of medium commercials, and an increase of 33 units, or 1,9%, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, compared with the corresponding month last year.”
Exports had also shown a ”significant” year-on-year decline of 6 642 vehicles, or 43,4%.
”For the remainder of 2007, the industry’s performance would depend on the overall momentum of the South African economy, the direction of interest rates and new vehicle price trends.
”New cars sales would benefit from purchases by car rental companies over the next few months but further consolidation is expected due to moderate consumer demand.
”However, the momentum in the new commercial vehicle segments is still strong and would continue to benefit from infrastructural development spending and construction activity,” Naamsa said. — Sapa