According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA), new vehicle sales and exports declined during the month of April by 10,7 and 32,6 per cent respectively.
The association attributed the gloomy sales month to the difficult economic environment, as well as the high number and configuration of public holidays compared to the corresponding month last year – which greatly reduced the amount of local trading and production.
Aggregate new vehicle sales declined by 5 485 from the 51 498 units sold during April last year, to 46 013, while export sales took a 8 142 vehicle beating – 16 801 units were exported during April 2014, while 24 943 vehicles were exported during the same period last year.
Out of the total reported sales of 46 013 vehicles, 88,7 per cent represented dealer sales, while 4,9 per cent went to industry corporate fleets, 4,2 per cent went to the rental industry, and 2,2 per cent were sold to government.
All segments suffered sales declines in April. The new passenger car market declined by 3 648 units to 30 848 units sold, while light commercial vehicles recorded a 1 662 unit loss at 14 458 units sold. In the medium and heavy segments, there were losses of 795 units and 1 574 units respectively.
The outlook for the rest of the year is equally gloomy. NAAMSA reports that the remainder of 2014 would be negatively affected by such factors as price increases because of the weakened exchange rate, higher interest rates, escalating energy and transport costs as well as subdued economic growth. The association believes that the market is likely to register an aggregate decline of 3,5 per cent compared to 2013.
Click here to download the full sales report Naamsa April 2014
