SA new vehicle sales decline

Namibian car buyers can expect plenty of special deals from the time of the Biltongfees onwards, following the contraction in new vehicle sales in South Africa for May.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), said earlier this week new vehicle sales, with the exception of light commercial vehicles, have declined compared to May last year.

NAAMSA said May 2015 aggregate new vehicle sales at 47,868 units were down 3.2% from the 49,449 vehicles sold in May last year. Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 47,868 vehicles, an estimated 40,575 units or 84.8% represented dealer sales, 6.9% constituted sales to government, 4.7% to industry corporate fleets and 3.5% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry.
“The May, 2015 new car market at 31,201 units reflected a decline of 1773 units or a fall of 5.4% compared to the 32,974 new cars sold in May last year. Despite incentive packages to promote demand, intense competition in a difficult trading environment continued to pressurize the domestic new car market.”
Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses during at 14,182 units reflected an improvement of 309 units or a gain of 2.2% compared to the 13,873 light commercial vehicles sold during the corresponding month last year.
“Sales of vehicles in the investment-driven medium and heavy truck segments of the Industry had registered declines. Medium commercial vehicle sales at 787 units and heavy commercial vehicle sales at 1 698 units, reflected a fall of 33 units or 4% in the case of medium commercials, and a decline of 84 vehicles or a fall of 4.7% in the case of heavy trucks and buses, compared to the corresponding month last year.”
According to NAAMSA, the outlook for the industry had not changed much in recent months, however, the lower than expected new car sales might necessitate a slight downward review of the annual new car market.