South Africa’s new vehicle industry continued on its path of moderate recovery in May 2021. According to Naamsa, a total of 38 337 vehicles were sold last month, which is a 7,6 percent gain over April. It’s not fair to compare the figures to May last year, as South Africa was on Level 4 of lockdown, but for what it’s worth the market grew by 197,8 percent year-on-year.
Light commercial vehicles led the year-on-year growth, at 288,5 percent, while passenger cars saw a 169,0 percent gain.
South Africa’s top sellers
Naamsa no longer releases individual sales figures, however WesBank has revealed the top three passenger car and bakkie model line-ups for May 2021.
As you would have expected, the Toyota Hilux topped the sales charts once again, with 3 700 of these bakkies finding homes during May. It was followed by the Ford Ranger, at 1 972, and the Isuzu D-Max, at 1 540.
On the passenger car front, the Volkswagen Polo led with 2 100 sales, followed by its older-generation Polo Vivo sibling (1432) and Toyota Fortuner (872).
Toyota once again led the overall sales race by a considerable margin, with a total of 9 652 sales. It was followed by Volkswagen (5 506), Ford (2 904), Hyundai (2 793) and Suzuki (2 034).
It was Ford that led the export race, however, with 10 208 Rangers shipped abroad, followed by the Volkswagen Polo (9 099) and Mercedes C-Class (5 800). Toyota exported 5 241 vehicles while BMW shipped 4 100 X3s abroad in May.
What lies ahead?
“The new vehicle market is in gradual recovery mode in line with the anticipated growth rate in excess of 3 percent projected for 2021 for the domestic economy and for the year to date aggregate new vehicle sales were now 44,9 percent above the same period last year,” Naamsa said in response to the May 2021 sales figures.
The association said that its CEOs Confidence Index reflects the general agreement by industry leaders that business conditions for the local motor industry are expected to improve over the next six months.
“The market continues its slow recovery in the face of a number of challenges and opportunities,” WesBank marketing head Lebogang Gaoaketse added.
“Interest rates remain at historical lows, providing some of the most affordable finance and consequently opportunities to purchase a new vehicle. However, price inflation against the backdrop of a subdued economy continues to be a barrier for many purchase decisions”.
The finance institution noted that new vehicle prices rose by nearly three times the general inflation rate during the first quarter of this year, according to TransUnion’s Vehicle Pricing Index.
