Toyota dominates local light commercial vehicle market
Japanese brand, Toyota retained a strong year-to-date market share of 58.5% and remains the market leader in Namibia’s light commercial vehicle segment, according to a report by the Automobile Association of South Africa.
Nissan remains in second position in the segment with 11.7% of the market, while Ford makes up third place with 9.3% of the year-to-date sales.
Meanwhile, Hino leads the medium commercial vehicle segment with 37.2% of sales year-to-date, while Scania was number one in the heavy- and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 34.8% of the market share year-to-date.
The reports indicates that Volkswagen leads the passenger vehicle sales segment with 30.4% of the segment sales year-to-date, with Toyota in second place with 29.7% of the market-share as at the end of September. Kia, Mercedes, Hyundai and Ford each command around 5% of the market in the passenger vehicles segment, leaving the remaining 19.4% of the market to other brands.
The report shows that overall vehicle sales remain under pressure, with the year-to-date new vehicle sales in 2019 currently below 2010 levels, and the total new vehicle sales for the last 12 months down 10.2% from the same period in 2018.
During September 2019, 806 new vehicles were sold, representing a 0.2% m/m decrease from the 808 vehicles sold in August. Year-to-date, 7,841 vehicles have been sold of which 3,534 were passenger vehicles, 3,763 were light commercial vehicles, and 544 were medium and heavy commercial vehicles, which is the lowest year-to-date sales witnessed since 2009.
According to IJG Research, the number of vehicle sales recorded continues to decrease and any prospects of growth in the short-term remains dim.
“Latest data from the Namibia Statistics Agency recorded 2.6% contraction in the Namibian economy. As a result, we expect demand to remain subdued due to low consumer and business confidence,” IJG noted.
