It has been a challenging month for the domestic new vehicle market. In a performance described as "a 7-year low", vehicle sales dropped by 17% in comparison with July 2015, while passenger car sales have plummeted by almost 21%.
It has been a bad month for new vehicle sales in South Africa, with fewer vehicles sold in all four segments of the market. The chief economist at Econometrix, Azar Jammine said sales were “horrible and far worse than expected. It shows that people are just not in a position to buy big ticket items. Retail sales up to May were relatively positive, but people are diverting their spending away from big ticket items to afford to buy everything else.”
Wesbank pointed out that 44 883 new vehicles were sold in July 2016, 9 222 less than the same period last year.
“This is the biggest sales decline since 2009, at the height of the global economic recession,” said Simphiwe Nghona, CEO of WesBank Motor Retail. “Despite the Rand’s recent strength, what we’re experiencing now are the after effects of the currency’s weakness in recent months. This is compounded by distressed household budgets and low economic growth that is also trending downwards.”
New car sales summary – July 2016
- 44 883 aggregate new vehicle sales (54 105 – July 2015)
- 29 007 new passenger car sales (36 527 – July 2015)
- 13 575 light commercial sales (15 065 – July 2015)
- 29 042 export sales (28 358 – July 2015)
Top-selling car brands in South Africa – July 2016
|
Brand |
Total Sales |
|
1. Toyota |
10 224 |
|
2. VW |
6 814 |
|
3. Ford |
6 002 |
|
4. GMSA |
3 499 |
|
5. Nissan |
3 303 |
Top Selling New Cars in South Africa – July 2016
|
Model |
Total Sales |
|
3 153 |
|
|
2. VW Polo Vivo |
2 452 |
|
3. Ford Ranger |
2 305 |
|
4. Ford Fiesta |
1 740 |
|
1 595 |
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