New vehicle sales decrease by 5% in March
The vehicle sales industry saw a total of 759 new vehicles sold in March, representing a 5% decrease from the 799 vehicles sold in February, and an 18.9% decrease from the 936 new vehicles sold in March 2019, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa indicated in their latest vehicle sales report.
Year-to-date, 2,229 vehicles have been sold in the country of which 956 were passenger vehicles, 1,110 light commercial vehicles, and 163 medium and heavy commercial vehicles.
While March new vehicle sales generally have a seasonal effect of being slightly higher due to it being the end of the tax year, this was however not the case in 2020 as new vehicle sales have depressed in March.
IJG Research analysts noted that it should be taken in consideration that this data precedes the 21-day lockdown of the two most economically significant regions and as a result, vehicle sales are expected to be significantly lower in April.
“Used vehicle sales will similarly be affected by this. Both consumers and businesses are expected to be under considerable financial stress in the short- to medium term as a result of the lockdown, and we thus expect vehicle sales to remain at lower levels in the months to come,” the analysts said.
For the month under review, Toyota continued to lead the market for new passenger vehicle sales, claiming 30.9% of the market, followed closely by Volkswagen with a 29% share. They were followed by Kia and Hyundai at 7.2% and 5.8% of the market respectively, while the rest of the passenger vehicle market was shared by several other competitors.
