Yet another fuel price increase for July is going to hammer profitability and stability across the transport board with the likely result a slew of price increases that will bludgeon consumers even more – and, if recent news reports about the Road Accident Fund renting office chairs at more than R1 600 each per month, yet more misery as uncontrollable inefficiency wreaks economic havoc.

According to the figures published by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (NAAMSA), domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses, at 14 261 units, declined during June, 2018 by 58 units or 0,4% compared to the 14 319 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year. 

Sales in the low volume medium and heavy truck segments of the Industry reflected a mixed picture and at 731 units and 1 800 units, respectively, recorded a decrease of 22 vehicles or a decline of  2,9%, in the case of medium commercial vehicles and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, an improvement of  165 vehicles or a gain of 10,1% compared to the corresponding month last year. 

“The improvement in domestic sales, particularly new car sales, was encouraging given recent weak economic growth and investment numbers,” says Naamsa. “It appeared the new car market had been supported by improved business and consumer confidence. 

“However, the decline in the leading indicator of the Reserve Bank over the past two months – suggested a challenging economic environment going forward.  Normally new vehicle sales during the second half of a calendar year tended to show improvement on first half sales and this reinforced Naamsa’s expectations of a modest annual improvement in 2018 domestic sales volumes compared to 2017.”

Naamsa continued to project growth in export sales over the balance of the year. However, the industry’s export performance was likely to be affected by current protectionist policies in the United States which had increased the risk of a global trade war and this could impact on international trade flows, including vehicle exports.

 

		March	April	May	June
LCV	Toyota	5746	3987	5172	5588
	Nissan	2908	1797	2878	2869
	Ford	2999	2456	2908	2667
	Isuzu	1273	1071	1298	1372
	Volkswagen	532	438	530	521
	Mahindra	293	200	285	319
	Hyundai	294	224	269	221
	GWM		103	173	174
	Kia		103	141	163
	Suzuki		3	48	90
	Mercedes		11	33	76
	Mazda	113	106	61	50
	JMC		26	48	42
	Tata		22	30	40
	Mitsubishi		28	48	37
	Renault		1	3	6
	Peugeot		4	1	2
		March	April	May	June
MCV	Isuzu	234	146	205	189
	Toyota	163	109	127	186
	Mercedes	184	110	200	165
	Iveco	154	37	54	88
	Hyundai	64	19	29	26
	Volkswagen		4	4	19
	Tata	104	24	37	15
	JMC	18	10	11	15
	VECV		7	11	8
	Ford	23	16	4	8
	Peugeot		5	4	5
	Powerstar		6	4	1
		March	April	May	June
HCV	Isuzu	68	53	80	160
	Toyota	125	85	75	102
	FAW	36	29	56	85
	Volvo	62	48	55	79
	Tata	49	31	44	62
	Mercedes	101	66	127	50
	Powerstar	4	7	8	9
	Iveco	10	9	5	4
		March	April	May	June
XHCV	Volvo	286	296	354	315
	Mercedes	267	164	313	259
	MAN	156	163	181	164
	Scania	140	142	179	161
	Powerstar	41	42	54	56
	Toyota	34	27	35	54
	Iveco		22	33	49
	FAW	36	31	25	39
	Isuzu		16	14	34
	Babcock	49	45	13	17
	Tata		8	8	8
		March	April	May	June
Bus	MAN	37	25	51	41
	Scania	30	13	18	19
	Mercedes	22	8	8	14
	Iveco	1	2	5	12
	Volvo			5	4
	Isuzu	3	8	1	1