Ups and downs in the August sales charts

By Colin Windell

 

August proved a tough month for auto dealers with sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 13 956 units down by 866 units or 5,8% compared to the 14 822 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year. 

Sales in the low volume medium and heavy truck segments of the industry again reflected encouraging gains and at 702 units and 1 859 units, respectively, recorded an increase of 60 vehicles or an improvement of 9,3% in the case of medium commercial vehicles, and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, an improvement of 294 vehicles or a gain of 18,8% compared to the corresponding month last year.  Both segments had recorded improvements for the second consecutive month.

According to a statement by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), the current socio-political discourse in South Africa is not conducive to uplifting business confidence and investment sentiment, both of which are critical to an improvement in South Africa’s economic performance. 

Sustainable economic growth is essential to support the creation of new employment opportunities. Urgent steps are needed to address South Africa’s structural problems including skills shortages, general productivity, de-industrialisation and low fixed investment growth. 

The recent sharp depreciation of the Rand exchange rate will exert upward pressure on general inflation, as well as on new vehicle prices. The sharp decline in the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index is a source of concern and suggested a continuation of challenging business and trading conditions during the months ahead.  As a result, conditions in the domestic new vehicle market are expected to remain under pressure over the short to medium term. 

		April	May	June	July	August
LCV	Toyota	3987	5172	5588	5179	5116
	Nissan	1797	2878	2869	2850	2966
	Ford	2456	2908	2667	2563	2587
	Isuzu	1071	1298	1372	1165	1542
	Volkswagen	438	530	521	501	463
	Mahindra	200	285	319	334	340
	Hyundai	224	269	221	295	338
	GWM	103	173	174	153	182
	Kia	103	141	163	112	112
	Mercedes	3	48	90	70	87
	Mitsubishi	11	33	76	40	42
	Suzuki	106	61	50	40	41
	Fiat	26	48	42	38	40
	JMC	22	30	40	38	38
	Tata	28	48	37	34	35
	Mazda	1	3	6	31	21
	Peugeot	4	1	2	11	1
		April	May	June	July	August
MCV	Toyota	146	205	189	195	179
	Mercedes	109	127	186	173	163
	Isuzu	110	200	165	146	152
	Iveco	37	54	88	63	84
	Volkswagen	19	29	26	45	48
	Tata	4	4	19	36	28
	Hyundai	24	37	15	16	25
	JMC	10	11	15	10	12
	Ford	7	11	8	7	5
	Peugeot	16	4	8	7	3
	VECV	5	4	5	3	2
		April	May	June	July	August
HCV	Isuzu	53	80	160	181	115
	Volvo	85	75	102	98	113
	Toyota	29	56	85	85	100
	FAW	48	55	79	55	74
	Mercedes	31	44	62	50	48
	Tata	66	127	50	43	42
	VECV	7	8	9	7	7
	Iveco	9	5	4	4	6
		April	May	June	July	August
XHCV	Volvo	296	354	315	271	357
	Mercedes	164	313	259	229	256
	Scania	163	181	164	192	207
	MAN	142	179	161	125	181
	Powerstar	42	54	56	42	58
	Toyota	27	35	54	35	40
	FAW	22	33	49	32	38
	Tata	31	25	39	27	33
	Iveco	16	14	34	22	30
	Isuzu	45	13	17	16	26
	Babcock	8	8	8	10	24
		April	May	June	July	August
Bus	MAN	25	51	41	26	31
	Scania	13	18	19	15	29
	Iveco	8	8	14	14	16
	Mercedes	2	5	12	12	13
	Volvo		5	4	11	10
	Tata	8	1	1	4	2