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Commenting briefly on South Africa’s new vehicle sales statistics for December 2018, Naamsa said the year ended on “a weak note” with aggregate industry sales at 39 984 units, a decline of 767 vehicles or a fall of 1,9 percent compared with the 40 751 units registered in December 2017.
The December 2018 new passenger car market and light commercial vehicle market reflected year-on-year volume declines of 0,2 percent in the case of new cars and a substantial decrease in the case of light commercial vehicles of 7,0 percent. Sales of medium commercial vehicles had also been weak, declining by 10,1 percent. On the other hand, sales of heavy commercial vehicles had improved 13,8 percent, year on year.
In contrast, export sales had recorded a massive improvement in December 2018 and at 31 437 units reflected an increase of 11 330 vehicles or a remarkable gain of 56,3 percent compared with the 20 107 vehicles exported during December 2017. The strong December industry export performance had contributed to a record annual export sales figure for the industry.
Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 39 984 vehicles, an estimated 34 012 units or 85,0 percent represented dealer sales, an estimated 9,3 percent represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3,2 percent to government and 2,5 percent to industry corporate fleets.
