One bright spot for South African motor manufacturers was the 32,7 per cent jump in exports of built-up units in the first half of 2010, compared to the same period a year ago and the outlook for the rest of the year looks encouraging. A total of 106 779 units, mainly passenger cars, were shipped by local manufacturers this year, compared to 80 456 between January – June 2009.
Volkswagen, which has the publicly-stated objective of overtaking Toyota as the top-seller in both global and local vehicle sales within the next decade, has just overtaken Toyota as the leading exporter of built-up vehicles from South Africa. Together these two rivals were responsible for nearly 60 per cent of total CBU exports from SA, with BMW and Mercedes-Benz in supporting roles.
Volkswagen shipped 36 521 units – virtually all Polos – in the first six months of 2010, which was more than four times the 8 165 units shipped in the first half of last year.
Volkswagen’s current half year shipments were 9 513 more units than exported by Toyota, which was a total of 27 008 vehicles, made up of 19 170 Corollas and 19 170 Hilux pick-ups. This was, in fact, 10 per cent less vehicles than Toyota had shipped in the same period last year, when there was a virtual 50:50 split between Corollas and Hiluxes.
BMW was in third place, with 18 570 exported units, despite a 3.5 per cent drop in volume compared to the situation a year ago. Mercedes-Benz, on the other hand, increased its exports by almost 25 per cent to 16 861 units.
The United States continues to be far and away the biggest market outside Africa for SA-built vehicles, with 28 855 of the 89 804 units shipped to destinations outside the African continent. The next biggest market is the United Kingdom, which took 18 398 vehicles.
Exports into African countries showed a dip in the first half of 2010, in stark contrast to the situation in other global markets. Total exports into Africa totalled 16 975, compared to 21 721 a year earlier – a drop of 22 per cent.
Toyota continues to lead the way by a wide margin in terms of exports into Africa, with 11 821 units, for a 70 per cent share, compared to 17 181 units shipped in the first six months of 2009, for a 79 per cent share.
Volkswagen is a very small player in terms of exports into Africa, with only 121 sales between January and June this year. It is also unlikely to improve much in the near future, as its up-coming one-ton pick-up, the Amarok, is being imported from Argentina and not made locally. (One-ton pick-ups make up the bulk of vehicles exported from SA into the rest of Africa, which is where Toyota has a big advantage).
Nisan is the only other significant exporter of vehicles into Africa, with 3 255 rerecorded in the latest industry report, which was more than 30 per cent up on the figure for the same period last year, but still trails Toyota by a big margin.
Algeria is the biggest market for local exporters, with Toyota having the lion’s share of this business. A total of 4 339 units were shipped to this country. Next biggest markets were Egypt (1 488 units) and Zimbabwe (1 400).
