SA vehicles sales: Top locally-built cars, bakkies

Pretoria - The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), reports 47 399 new vehicles sales for September 2016, a substantial decline of 7904 vehicles (or 14.3%) compared to the 55 303 vehicles sold in the corresponding period in 2015.

Overall, out of the total reported Industry sales of 47 399 vehicles, an estimated 38 342 units or 80.9% represented dealer sales, 14.3% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3.4% represented industry corporate fleet sales and 1.4% sales to government.    

READ: SA vehicle sales - huge declines in September

SA car-building heritage

South Africa has a long and proud motoring tradition, and for more than a century has been a leading developer, and manufacturer, of a wide variety and range of vehicles for local conditions and exports.

In 2016, SA celebrates 120 years since the first car arrived in the country.

Naamsa sales report: September 2016

Best-selling locally built cars, bakkies: September 2016

Best-selling sports cars in SA: September 2016

The eight top-selling locally-built cars: September 2016

More to difficult to 'justify buying a car'

Despite September being the end of the quarter, which usually sees attractive deals to aid in meeting targets, new vehicle sales saw a sharp decline. The majority of vehicles in South Africa are sold to consumers through the dealer channel, where sales of passenger vehicles and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) fell 14.4% and 14.8%, respectively. The contraction in the market is attributed to both rising prices for new vehicles as well inflation affecting consumer budgets.

Simphiwe Nghona, CEO of the Motor Retail at WesBank, said: “This sales decline remains in line with WesBank’s view of the market, which is influenced by a number of macroeconomic factors. Additionally, consumer budgets are under more pressure than ever which has made it more difficult for them to either afford a new car or justify buying in the new market.”