Record car sales in July

July saw a record number of just under 1600 vehicles being sold in Namibia, an analyst from Simonis Storms Securities has said. Daniel Kavishe says vehicle sales jumped 13.1% in July to 1597 vehicle units compared to a 0.6% increase the previous month. The July figures are the highest monthly increase since the beginning of the year. Toyota and Volkswagen were the two most sought-after brands with 547 and 216 units sold respectively. Also Namibians showed that they still have a huge appetite for luxury cars as Audi sold 19 units, BMW 15 units while Mercedes Benz recorded 55 units which represents the best sales figures for Mercedes over the past two years. Year to date vehicle sales now stand at 9170 units with passenger vehicles representing 48.6% of total vehicle sales while light commercial vehicles represent 46.7% of total sales. Kavishe attributed the high sales recorded in July and the previous three months to favourable pricing from local dealers and high government spending on vehicles. He said: “According to car dealers in the market, the government purchases the bulk of their fleet through a tendering process. This implies that government purchases include both direct purchases (which are recorded by NAAMSA) and indirect purchases which are captured within the dealer numbers. “Over the past few months, government tenders to dealers have increased (hence the staggering figures in vehicle sales for the past 3 months). This factor in conjunction with the low interest rate environment and a growing tourism sector performance (ie. increased demand of rentals) has resulted in high numbers recorded in vehicle sales for months May, June and July.” However, Kavishe cautioned that the recent wave of strikes in South Africa could have a negative impact on vehicle sales going forward. “If the strikes remain incessant, it is our view and that of local dealers that overall vehicle purchases will decline. “Depending on the severity of the strike and its longevity, the outlook for the rest of the year will be revised downwards with fewer vehicles sales being reported as compared to last year. We fear that the strikes will affect not only new vehicle sales figures but may also dampen vehicle parts availability.” Kavishe said. On a more positive note, Kavishe said he expects sales from second hand dealerships to increase. “This market recently received yet another respite from the government that revised legislation for second hand vehicle imports. The new limit on the import of second hand vehicles from countries outside of the SACU region is now eight years versus five years previously.”