Vehicles sales increase by 19.4% in March
In March 2022, a total of 1,054 new vehicles were sold in Namibia, compared to 883 in February and 919 in March 2021, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers South Africa.
This is the first time since May 2019 that new monthly vehicle sales have surpassed the 1,000 level. Passenger and light commercial vehicles continue to be the bulk of new vehicle sales, accounting for 50.2% and 44.3% of total sales respectively in March 2022.
In March 2022, vehicle sales were dominated by Toyota (47.5%), Volkswagen (13.2%), Nissan (5.6%), Ford (4.4%) and KIA (4.2%).
Simonis Storm economist, Theo Klein said the strong local demand for new vehicles could be a result of the N$13 billion paid in life insurance claims between the second quarter of 2020 and the third quarter of 2021.
“This is potentially one explanation for the strong local demand for new vehicles, creating major backlogs for certain brands as discussed earlier. This can also potentially explain why growth in instalment credit for households has been moderate to stagnant as well,” Klein said.
Klein said Namibian consumers can expect car prices to continue rising in 2022 in addition to higher costs of operating vehicles, such as higher fuel and spare parts prices.
“In a rising interest rate environment, we also expect slightly lower demand for car loans,” Klein added.
