Small gains in truck sales

By Colin Windell 

Sales in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle market showed some gains in September despite both internal and external economic pressure.

Truck sales slightly up in September

Despite the knock-on effects stemming from the Trump trade war with China in the form of devastating devaluing of the Rand, the recession and the massive hike in fuel prices, medium and heavy commercial vehicles sales showed marginal increases in September.

September, 2018 domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 14342 units had declined by a modest 168 units or 1,2 % compared to the 14510 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.

According to data from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), sales in the low volume medium and heavy truck segments of the industry reflected some improvement and at 702 units and 1 840 units respectively, had recorded an increase of three vehicles or an improvement  of 0,4% in the case of medium commercial vehicles and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, an improvement of 83 vehicles or a gain of 4,7 % compared to the corresponding month last year. Both segments had now recorded improvements for the third consecutive month.

In its statement NAAMSA said: “The South African economy continued to experience recessionary conditions. Fixed capital investment remained under pressure and consumers’ disposable income, already under pressure, would be further impacted by the record impending increase in fuel prices.

“Ongoing weakness in purchasing manager’s indices as well as the Reserve Bank’s leading indicator suggested business conditions and the general trading environment would remain difficult over the next six to nine months. With three quarters of 2018 accounted for, the indications were sales in all major segments, on an annualised basis, would probably register marginal declines compared to the previous year.”

 

		May	June	July	August	September
LCV	Toyota	3987	5172	5588	5179	5498
	Nissan	1797	2878	2869	2850	3055
	Ford	2456	2908	2667	2563	3048
	Isuzu	1071	1298	1372	1165	1193
	Volkswagen	438	530	521	501	492
	Hyundai	200	285	319	334	300
	Mahindra	224	269	221	295	296
	GWM	103	173	174	153	163
	Kia	103	141	163	112	98
	Mercedes	3	48	90	70	58
	Fiat	11	33	76	40	50
	JMC	106	61	50	40	46
	Mitsubishi	26	48	42	38	26
	Renault	22	30	40	38	4
	Peugeot	28	48	37	34	3
	Suzuki	1	3	6	31	3
	Mazda	4	1	2	11	3
		May	June	July	August	September
MCV	Toyota	146	205	189	195	214
	Mercedes	109	127	186	173	185
	Isuzu	110	200	165	146	133
	Iveco	37	54	88	63	51
	Volkswagen	19	29	26	45	50
	Tata	4	4	19	36	25
	Hyundai	24	37	15	16	16
	JMC	10	11	15	10	9
	Ford	7	11	8	7	8
	Peugeot	16	4	8	7	6
	Fiat	5	4	5	3	3
		May	June	July	August	September
HCV	Toyota	53	80	160	181	153
	Isuzu	85	75	102	98	99
	Volvo	29	56	85	85	80
	Tata	48	55	79	55	62
	Mercedes	31	44	62	50	60
	FAW	66	127	50	43	50
	VECV	7	8	9	7	8
	MAN	9	5	4	4	6
		May	June	July	August	September
XHCV	Volvo	296	354	315	271	302
	Mercedes	164	313	259	229	286
	Scania	163	181	164	192	214
	MAN	142	179	161	125	197
	FAW	42	54	56	42	38
	Iveco	27	35	54	35	37
	Toyota	22	33	49	32	36
	Babcock	31	25	39	27	32
	Powerstar	16	14	34	22	20
	Isuzu	45	13	17	16	13
	Tata	8	8	8	10	8
		May	June	July	August	September
Bus	MAN	25	51	41	26	67
	Iveco	13	18	19	15	19
	Scania	8	8	14	14	18
	Mercedes	2	5	12	12	16
	Volvo		5	4	11	13
	Tata	8	1	1	4	0