/ 2 March 2011

New vehicles sales rise

New vehicle sales improved by 25% in February compared with the same month in 2010.

New vehicle sales improved by 25% in February compared with the same month in 2010, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) said on Wednesday.

“Aggregate industry sales had improved by 9 880 units, or 25,2%, to 49 164 vehicles, from 39 284 units in February last year,” Naamsa said in a statement.

“… In particular, new car as well as medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales had registered exceptional gains compared with the corresponding month last year,” it said.

Total industry sales for the first two months of 2011 were 22% ahead of the corresponding two months in 2010.

“Attractive special incentive packages offered by a number of manufacturers/importers during the month of February 2011 also contributed to the rise in sales volumes,” Naamsa said.

Of the new vehicle sales for February, 80% were dealer sales and 10% represented sales to the car rental industry. Six percent went to government and 3,5% to industry corporate fleet sales.

New car sales showed a “substantial improvement” of 31% compared with February 2010.

New light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses improved 11% to 12 854 units.

“Sales also reflected an improvement of 21,8% compared with the previous month of January 2011, which could be attributed to some pre-emptive buying to avoid the new [carbon dioxide] tax on double-cab light commercial vehicles to be implemented from March 1 2011.”

Upward momentum
Naamsa said sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry, with the exception of buses, continued the strong upward momentum.

A figure of 861 medium trucks were sold — a 46% gain compared with the corresponding month last year.

The heavy truck segment sold 1 393 units, a 19% year-on-year gain.

Exports of South Africa-produced motor vehicles in February “registered a significant improvement”.

As many as 14 132 vehicles — a 78% increase — were sold in February compared with the same month in the previous year.

“In light of a revival in demand for South Africa-produced motor vehicles in foreign markets, industry export sales were expected to reach 300 000 units in 2011.”

Naamsa said the outlook for 2011 remained positive.

“Domestically, new vehicle sales over the medium term would remain a function of the performance of the South African economy and, in the case of export sales, the sustainability of the recovery in the global economy,” it said. — Sapa