A spectacular turnaround in commercial vehicle sales in the space of a year was a significant factor in the better-than-expected new vehicle sales figures for November 2010.
“November is normally not a good month for the motor trade from a seasonal perspective and it is encouraging to note that last month’s figures matched the excellent sales recorded in October,” said McCarthy chief executive Brand Pretorius.
“Positive momentum is building in the new vehicle market. Healthy increases in sales over the corresponding period last year were recorded in all segments of the market with total sales increasing by almost 30 per cent.
“Particularly noteworthy was the strong performance of the commercial vehicle segment, which is in alignment with a higher level of business confidence,” Pretorius added.
Passenger vehicle sales were 28,9 per cent up on the figure for November 2009, while light commercials jumped 28 per cent, mediums, which have been in the doldrums, increased by 47,9 per cent and heavy trucks and buses continued to perform well with an improvement of 53,6 per cent.
Pretorius ascribed the strong sales to better stock availability, with virtually all the local vehicle manufacturing facilities working a lot of overtime as they made up for the time lost during strike action earlier in the year. This resulted in popular models such as the Toyota Hilux, Volkswagen Polo and Vivo and Toyota Fortuner attaining almost record sales for the year last month.
He added that another factor that had impacted sales positively was replacement demand, particularly in the fleet segment.
“Sales to private individuals were also at healthy levels last month, spurred on by enhanced vehicle affordability due to low vehicle price inflation, extended repayment periods on instalment sales and an interest rate at a 30-year low.
“2010 is turning out to be far better than anticipated. New vehicle sales should reach 490 000 units, which will represent an improvement of 24 per cent over last year,” he concluded.
Click on the DOCUMENTS tab above to download the New Vehicle Sales Statistics for November 2010 as released by Naamsa.
