Vehicle sales increase 13% m-o-m

A total of 1,525 new vehicles were sold during March, marking an increase of 13% from the February sales of 1,350 according to IJG Securities. The sales figures IJG noted were down 29.1% over March 2015, owing to a fall in sales in both passenger and commercial vehicles. A lesser number of vehicles has been sold year to date, a total of 4,264 vehicles were sold in 2016, which is 26.6% below vehicle sales recorded for the same period in 2015 IJG observed.
Rolling 12 month sales continued to contract after turning negative in December for the first time in 69 months. The year on year 12 month percentage change contracted 12.8% during March, falling below the 20,000 level for the first time since August 2014.
“Sales of passenger vehicles rose by 20.1% month on month, from 606 in February to 728 in March. The annual passenger vehicle sales fell by 20%. Commercial vehicle sales continue to come in higher compared to passenger vehicles. Commercial vehicle sales declined by 35.7% year on year bringing the total sales to a figure of 797 vehicles, due to lower sales of both light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles. An increase of 7.4% in commercial vehicle sales was recorded in March, in comparison to February sales,” IJG said.
According to IJG, Toyota and Volkswagen proved to be the vehicles of choice in the passenger market, with the two brands commanding over 50% of sales jointly. “The passenger vehicle sales have recorded a decent growth in March, this growth was mostly on account of Toyota and Volkswagen, with Volkswagen selling 213 (29%) and Toyota selling 188 (27%) of the 728 passenger vehicles sold. Toyota retained the market share in the light commercial vehicle sales, recording a market share of 48%, which is 7% above February’s market share, followed by Nissan at 11% and Isuzu at 10% taking Ford’s position last month.”