South African vehicle sales fell by 5,9%, or 3 423 units, year-on-year (y/y) in October to 54 387 units with the decline driven by the passenger-car market, new data showed on Friday.
Sales data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) further showed that aggregate sales for the first ten months of the year were 3,5% lower than the same time last year.
The passenger-car market continued to be pressured by a tighter monetary environment and new credit laws, but demand for commercial vehicles remained strong on the back of high economic activity levels, Naamsa said.
Sales for new passenger cars fell 7,7%, or 2 879 units, y/y in October to 34 413 units, but compared with September sales, during which 32 257 new cars had been sold, the new car market showed an increase of 2 156 units or 6,7%.
“Taking account of new car sales not reported in detail to Naamsa, the October 2007 total new car market had recorded a decline of 6,5% compared with October 2006,” Naamsa said.
On a year-to-date basis, Naamsa reported new car sales remained 8,6% below the same time last year, while taking account of the sales not reported in detail to Naamsa the year-to-date decline was 7,9%.
Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 16 167 units last month reflected a decline of 1 230 units, or 7,1%, compared with the same time last year.
Sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry reflected continuing strong demand, and the October 2007 sales at 1 477 units and 2 330 units, respectively, had recorded substantial increases of 174 units or 13,4% in the case of medium commercials, and 512 units or 28,2% in the case of heavy trucks and buses, compared with the same time last year.
Looking ahead, Naamsa said new and used car sales were expected to remain under pressure as a result of tight monetary conditions and an expected modest slowdown in consumption expenditure. — I-Net Bridge