Naamsa November: Medium and heavy truck sales up

By Colin Windell 

Despite the pressures of the fuel price and the rates hike, sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles in November improved even further compared to the same month last year.

Truck sales show growth

November, 2018 domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 13 695 units declined by 891 units or 6,1% compared to the 14 586 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.

However, sales in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry reflected further improvement and at 804 units and 1 933 units, respectively, recorded an increase of 120 vehicles or an improvement of 17,5%,
in the case of medium commercial vehicles and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, an improvement of 270 vehicles or a gain of 16,2% compared to the corresponding month last year according to figures published by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa).

Both segments have now recorded improvements for the fifth consecutive month and the stronger sales number suggest an improvement in capital investment sentiment.

“While consumer confidence looks to be reasonably positive, the interest rate hike during the month would have impacted sales during November negatively,” says Ghana Msibi, WesBank Executive Head of Sales and Marketing. “Further planned rate increases over the next 12 months will not bode well for new vehicle sales.”

The prevailing difficult economic environment is expected to continue over the medium term, compounded by the recent surprising increase in interest rates and ongoing pressure on consumers’disposable income. In the circumstances, the best that could be anticipated was for the domestic new vehicle market to stabilise in coming months, however, any recovery was likely to be modest.

An encouraging feature is the broad based and substantial increase in the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index, the first increase since February, which suggested a possible improvement in general business conditions in about six months’ time.

Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Toyota SM, Calvyn Hamman, says: "The incredible loyalty shown by our customers over more than half a century has enabled us to achieve an outstanding share of the local market. We are thankful to our fleet owners and rental companies for their continued support in these trying economic times. We are also grateful to our dealer network, as well as all Toyota staff, for their sterling efforts in making Toyota such a competitive brand.”

 

		July	August	September	October	November
LCV	Toyota	5172	5588	5179	5498	5157
	Nissan	2878	2869	2850	3055	2944
	Ford	2908	2667	2563	3048	2551
	Isuzu	1298	1372	1165	1193	1418
	Volkswagen	530	521	501	492	544
	Hyundai	285	319	334	300	312
	Mahindra	269	221	295	296	236
	GWM	173	174	153	163	167
	Kia	141	163	112	98	121
	Mercedes	48	90	70	58	75
	Suzuki	33	76	40	50	47
	Mitsubishi	61	50	40	46	39
	JMC	48	42	38	26	34
	Fiat	30	40	38	4	21
	Mazda	48	37	34	3	21
	Renault	3	6	31	3	7
	Peugeot	1	2	11	3	1
		July	August	September	October	November
MCV	Mercedes	205	189	195	214	206
	Isuzu	127	186	173	185	197
	Toyota	200	165	146	133	137
	Volkswagen	54	88	63	51	127
	Iveco	29	26	45	50	49
	Tata	4	19	36	25	35
	Hyundai	37	15	16	16	16
	JMC	11	15	10	9	15
	Ford	11	8	7	8	13
	Peugeot	4	8	7	6	3
	Powerstar	4	5	3	3	3
		July	August	September	October	November
HCV	Isuzu	80	160	181	153	116
	Volvo	75	102	98	99	114
	FAW	56	85	85	80	71
	Toyota	55	79	55	62	69
	Mercedes	44	62	50	60	59
	Tata	127	50	43	50	45
	Powerstar	8	9	7	8	12
	MAN	5	4	4	6	3
		July	August	September	October	November
XHCV	Volvo	354	315	271	302	383
	Mercedes	313	259	229	286	312
	MAN	181	164	192	214	196
	Scania	179	161	125	197	196
	FAW	54	56	42	38	56
	Iveco	35	54	35	37	53
	Powerstar	33	49	32	36	41
	Isuzu	25	39	27	32	35
	Toyota	14	34	22	20	32
	Babcock	13	17	16	13	32
	Tata	8	8	10	8	30
		July	August	September	October	November
Bus	MAN	51	41	26	67	30
	Mercedes	18	19	15	19	16
	Volvo	8	14	14	18	11
	Iveco	5	12	12	16	9
	Scania	5	4	11	13	8
	Tata	1	1	4	0	2