Anaemic growth in new vehicle sales continues to drag asset finance
The August drop of vehicle sales by 11% in the country is ascribed to a 30% decline in passenger vehicles and a 45.2% decline in medium commercial vehicles, following a 5.3% growth rate in the prior month, according to statistics from the National Association of Automobiles, South Africa.
Ford, which has a market share of 5.7% of the total new vehicle sales, declined by 25.9% m-o-m to 60 units in August 2018, following a 13.8% decline in the prior month.
The Toyota brand holding 37.1% market share m-o-m of the total vehicle sales, declined by 25.2% to 394 units in August 2018, following a decline of 13.7% in the prior month.
Meanwhile, year to date Namibian vehicle sales is down 10.5% to 8194 units compared to 9157 units in 2017 with an expected decline of 12.8% to 11,605 units in 2018.
Indileni Nanghonga, Junior Analyst at Simonis Storm Securities said that it continues to be a tough year for the vehicle industry, adding that there is no reverting in sight over the short term.
However, she is of the view that with elections next year and the approaching December holiday season, there is a slight expectation of an uptick in the vehicle numbers.
“We do not foresee spectacular jumps in the units of new vehicle sales in the near future as the economy fails to continue delivering required growth rates,” Nanghonga stated.
