Head above water as July new-vehicle sales remain afloat

South Africa’s new vehicle sales remained on the up in the July for a third straight month, but only just with the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) attributing the marginal gain to the Covid-19 enforced level 4 lockdown, protests in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng as well as the cyberattack on Transnet.

Although down compared to May and June, overall sales for the month reflected an uptick of 1.7% from last year’s 32,405 to 32 949 with the various segments being mostly negative.

The only section that showed an improvement, new passenger vehicle sales recorded a jump of 9.1% from 18 856 to 20 575, while light commercial vehicles went the other way by shedding 8.1% from 11 165 to 10 266.

Ending the month in the red, medium and heavy duty commercial vehicle sales nosedived by 16.1% and 9.7% respectively with the former settling at 587 units and the latter at 1 521.

Hardest hit by the prevailing factors however was exports, which, after posting a record increase of 50.9% year-on-year last month, contracted by 33.1% from 2020’s 25 312 to this year’s 16 931.

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“The devastating economic impact and unintended consequences of these actions not only caused a setback in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic but could prolong the economic recovery process and also have a lasting impact on the country’s challenges of dealing with poverty, inequality, and unemployment,” Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa said.

“Physical damages to assets and property, lost sales orders as well as the cancellation of new developments in the automotive industry are estimated at well over R3 billion. However, South Africans once again showed their goodwill and social solidarity during these challenging times.

“With the calm returning to KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the country moving to adjusted alert level 3 lockdown restrictions and the accelerated roll out of the vaccinations, the gradual recovery in the new vehicle market is anticipated to continue for the remainder of the year,” Mabasa concluded.

Out of the best performing manufactures, Toyota remained in front of Volkswagen with sales of 8 320 versus 5 078, with Hyundai displacing Ford to finish the month third on 2 698 compared to the Blue Oval’s 2 360. Nissan retained its fifth position with sales of 2 354 followed by Suzuki (1 532), Haval (1 525), Renault (1 522), Kia (1 557) and Isuzu (1 193).

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