The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) commented that new-car and commercial-vehicle sales for the month of May had registered significant gains over the corresponding month last year.
Aggregate industry sales improved by 20,7 per cent (8 604 units) to 50 229 from the 41 625 vehicles sold in May last year – a figure which is significantly above the growth rate in total sales (9,4 percent) for the first five months of the year.
Mercedes-Benz South Africa continues to provide a single sales number for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and exports. Messrs RGT (Naamsa’s data processing service provider) compiled estimates for the MBSA commercial sales by segment according to historical sales trends and forecasting techniques.
GWM recently joined the sales reporting fray, and though the company’s actual figures do not appear on the Naamsa sales pdf, it’s provided a single sales number for the first five months of the year. In January, February, March, April and May; 860, 677, 671, 493 and 579 models were sold respectively.
Overall, out of the total detailed (disaggregated) reported sales of 47 717 vehicles (excluding MBSA), 90,3 per cent (43 089) represented dealer sales, 4,3 per cent represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3,8 per cent to industry corporate fleet sales and 1,6 per cent sales to Government.
According to Naamsa, the aggregate industry new-car sales, boosted by improved stock availability and new model introductions during the last month, were also particularly strong – reflecting an improvement from the 28 821 units sold in May 2011 to 34 800 units (including MBSA) for the same month this year. The exceptional industry performance in May is also the highest recorded daily selling rate since June 2007.
Including the estimates for MBSA commercial vehicle sales by segment courtesy of Messrs RGT, sales of industry new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses at 12 907 units during May 2012 reflected an increase of 2 287 units or 21,5 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year, with sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the Industry at an estimated 881 and 1 621 units respectively – an increase of 135 units (18,1 per cent) and 183 units (12,7 percent).
Exports of South African produced motor vehicles, including MBSA export sales data, during May 2012 at 22 620 vehicles had registered an improvement of 560 units or 2,5 per cent compared to the 22 060 vehicles exported in May last year.
You can read the sales pdf by clicking on the DOCUMENTS tab and downloading the file.