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Another good month for new car sales in SA, vehicle exports remain disappointing - Naamsa

It's been another good month for South African car sales with 47 881 new vehicles sold in July 2018, an improvement of 1210 vehicles (+2.6%) compared to the 46 671 vehicles sold in July 2017, reports Naamsa.

Naamsa said that the latest domestic sales figures are in line with industry expectations but that export sales remain disappointing.

Exports decline

July 2018 aggregate export car sales at 28 063 vehicles reflect a substantial decline of 6657 units (-19.2%) compared to the extremely high result of 34 720 vehicles exported in July 2017.

Market snapshot

Overall, out of the total reported Industry sales of 47 881 vehicles, an estimated 38 675 units or 80.8% represented dealer sales, an estimated 14.0% represented sales to the vehicle rental Industry, 3.1% to industry corporate fleets and 2.1% to the government.


Year-on-year improvement

The July 2018 new car market at 32 108 units registered an improvement of 1323 cars (+4.3%) compared to the 30 785 new cars sold in July last year. Naamsa said: "On the back of continued fleeting replenishment, the car rental industry had contributed an estimated 18.8% of new car sales during the month."

Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles (LCVs), bakkies and minibuses at 13 458 units declined by 311 units (-2.3%) compared to the 13 769 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.

Sales in the low volume medium and heavy truck segments of the Industry reflected encouraging gains and at 701 units and 1 614 units, respectively, had recorded an increase of 96 vehicles or an improvement of 15.9%, in the case of medium commercial vehicles, and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, an improvement of 102 vehicles or a gain of 6.7% compared to the corresponding month last year.


Encouraging sales

Naamsa says: "The improvement in domestic sales, specifically new car sales, was encouraging against the background of recent weak economic growth numbers. The new car market continued to be supported by steady consumer confidence and improved new vehicle affordability with average price increases of new cars remaining well below inflation for the fourth consecutive quarter. 

"The unchanged leading economic indicator of the Reserve Bank for the month of May 2018, after three months of decline, was also positive as was the sharp increase in the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index."

"Naamsa further notes that second half calendar year new car sales normally showed an improvement on first-half sales and this suggested a modest annual improvement in 2018 domestic sales volumes compared to 2017. The latest lower than expected vehicle export sales numbers would necessitate a downward revision in 2018 industry export projections. A further complicating factor was as a result of increased risk of global trade disputes which could impact generally on international trade flows, including vehicle exports.

"Overall, domestic sales were on target to show marginal growth in 2018 but export sales would probably remain under pressure."






































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