Car dealers resilient in tough market

While new vehicle sales in August showed a decline of 2,5% year-on-year, the performance of the industry has remained relatively flat from a year-to-date perspective at -0,6% over the first eight months of 2018.
Of the 47 964 total industry sales last month, 66% went to the passenger vehicle segment which is down 2,2% year-on-year and is flat year-to-date according to data released today by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa). Light commercials, which contributed 29% of total sales, are down 5,8% year-on-year and 2,5% year-to-date. The commercial segment comprising buses, medium, heavy and extra-heavy vehicles made up the final 5%, and is up 16% year-on-year and 2,1% year-to-date.
“Despite perpetual pressure on the economy this year with total industry sales remaining subdued, the dealer channel has been resilient showing 2,4% year-to-date growth.” says Ghana Msibi, WesBank’s executive head for Sales and Marketing. “With four months remaining in 2018, WesBank’s forecast of 3% growth is still possible. However, if the deterioration of the rand to foreign currencies continues as we’ve seen in August, consumers could feel more of a pinch when buying new cars going forward.”
Rentals grew by 1,6% year-on-year in August, but remained 7,6% down when compared to the first eight months of last year which saw the highest rental sales ever recorded.

* Sales figures are supplied by Naamsa and exclude non-reporting manufacturers.