South African new vehicle sales figures for August dropped by more than 30 per cent compared with the same month last year. We bring you reaction from the industry…
According to the latest results released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) and Associated Motor Holdings (AMH), total vehicles sales dropped by 30,5 per cent to 44 309 units.
Sales of passenger vehicles (28 424 units) declined by 32,7 per cent, light commercial vehicles (12 878 units) by 29,2 per cent, and medium commercials (969 units) by 30,2 per cent, compared with August 2007’s figures. The only positive stat came from the heavy commercial segment (2 038 sales), which had increased by four per cent.
“The industry’s August 2008 sales performance should be seen in relation to the fact that August last year had represented a relatively high base in that it had the highest monthly number of new vehicles sold during 2007,” Naamsa said in a statement, but it added: “The daily sales rate during August 2008 continues to fluctuate around the lowest levels experienced over the past four years.”
McCarthy Motor Holdings chairman Brand Pretorius, said the drop of more than 30 per cent indicated that an increasing number of both fleet and private buyers were postponing the decision to replace their vehicles.
“We believe that their propensity to buy is being undermined by a continuing lack of business and consumer confidence,” he added.
Pretorius said that due to a substantial number of vehicles being repossessed, vehicle finance houses were forced to adopt a more conservative stance when providing credit to customers. And, in many cases, depressed trade-in prices were preventing deals from being done, as the value of prospective buyers’ trade-ins tended to be less than outstanding balances they owed to the finance houses.
VWSA sales and marketing director Mike Glendinning said VW had experienced consistent performances by CitiGolf (1 441 units) and Polo/Classic (2 724 units) in August, and more than 700 Audis were sold “with the all-new A4 saloon and the recently launched A4 Avant selling over 400 units.
Glendinning added that “the composition of demand had, however, changed in line with usual seasonal developments, with purchases from rental car companies playing a far larger role in the sale of new cars during July and August.”
“Sales of our more affordable vehicles reached an all time high with our Chevrolet brand’s Spark and Aveo recording more than 1100 units,” General Motors SA vice president for sales and marketing, Malcolm Gauld, said.
He warned that the relief expected from the reduction in fuel prices this week “may well be short-lived as producer price inflation is set to impact prices at the factory gate and is likely to feed the inflationary cycle. The uncertainty associated with those variables is causing consumers to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.”
Meanwhile, Toyota SA accounted for 58 per cent of all vehicle exports from South Africa and recorded domestic sales of 10 807 units – for a leading market share of 24,4 per cent – in August.
Toyota SA president Johan van Zyl forecasted “a market of around 550 000 vehicles for the year, in the range of 17,5 to 18 per cent down on sales for 2007. The market has dipped below that, to 18,3 per cent down year to date, but we are optimistic that the pressure on the market will ease towards the end of the year. This will depend on a period of interest rate stability.”
To view the Naamsa new vehicle sales figures for August 2008, click here.
