It hasn’t been a great start for the motoring industry this year. In January this year, 39 475 car sales were recorded, a decline by 8.1 percent over the same month, according to The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA).
Export sales at 11 373 units also registered a fall of 6 877 units or a decline of 37,7% compared to the 18 250 vehicles exported in January last year. However, this number could be skewed as from the beginning of this year, BMW implemented a new sales reporting model and didn’t report new vehicle sales for January.
NAAMSA attributed the decline to sustained weak demand for domestic new vehicles on the back of depressed consumer and business confidence, weak economic growth, record-high unemployment and Eskom’s ongoing electricity supply crisis.
NAAMSA, however, expect that vehicle exports this year will increase and could reach
390 000 units, compared to the record 387 125 vehicles exported last year.
In their VPI Q4 2019 report, TransUnion said that this year’s outlook for new vehicle sales is stagnant at best, against a backdrop of continued load-shedding by Eskom and Moody’s pending decision on South Africa’s investment rating.
They said that in Q4 last year, the South African car market had another challenging quarter with low price increases, favourable interest rates and lower fuel prices doing little to tempt consumers’ purchasing decisions.
Kriben Reddy, Head of Auto Information Solutions at TransUnion said: “The major issue facing the local automotive industry is the need for structural reform at a macro-economic level. We need to see sustained positive economic growth to get the new car market moving, and the challenge is that in 2019 we weren’t there. The problem is, it is unlikely that this situation will change in the short term, indicating that we may continue to battle for some years yet. Exports provide a bright spot by retaining jobs and keeping production lines going, but they are still a relatively small part of greater sales.”
1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 811
2. Volkswagen Polo hatchback – 1 761
3. Ford EcoSport – 1 132
4. Renault Kwid – 1 010
5. Toyota Corolla Quest – 998
6. Suzuki Swift – 824
7. Volkswagen T-Cross – 764
8. Ford Figo – 722
9. Hyundai Grand i10 – 697
10. Toyota Etios – 622
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