New vehicle sales increase substantially in June but still 21.5% down on June 2019
The number of new vehicles sold in June increased quite substantially on a monthly basis as 767 new vehicles were sold, an increase of 62.8% from the 471 new vehicles sold in May, statistics from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa indicate.
The June sales comprise 345 new passenger vehicles and 422 new commercial vehicles. However, this increase is from a low base as vehicle sales are merely recovering from very low activity during the lockdown.
For the first half of this year, new vehicle sales are down 33.9% year-on-year compared to the same period in 2019. The June 2020 increase relates to a decrease of 21.5% from the 977 new vehicles sold in June 2019.
In June 2020, Volkswagen narrowly leads the passenger vehicle sales segment with 30.4% of the segment sales year-to-date. Toyota retained second place with 29.5% of the market share as at the end of June. They were followed by Kia and Hyundai with 6.5% and 5.6% of the market respectively, while the rest of the passenger vehicle market was shared by several other competitors.
Toyota, with a strong market share of 56.4% year-to-date commands the light commercial vehicle sales segment. Nissan remains in the second position in the segment with 13.7% of the market, while Ford makes up third place with 10.3% of the year-to-date sales. Mercedes leads the medium commercial vehicle segment with 31.7% of sales year-to-date and remains number one in the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 22.3% of the market share year-to-date.
Analysts from IJG Research expect new vehicle sales to remain under pressure and do not foresee any substantial increases in the number sold for at least the rest of the year, as economic conditions are expected to remain weak.
