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SA vehicle sales take another year-on-year plunge in August, as Eskom hinders recovery
While the South African new vehicle market saw a modest improvement of 3.4 percent in August, versus the previous month, sales are still substantially down year-on-year, with last month’s total sales figure of 33 515 units representing a 26.3 percent decline over August 2019.
Passenger cars once again took the biggest plunge, falling by 32.6 percent to 19 545 units, largely thanks to almost zero demand from the rental car industry, while light commercial vehicles fell by 19.4 percent. On the upside, there was a slight uptick in the market for medium and heavy commercial vehicles, which saw encouraging year-on-year gains of 7.7 percent and 9.0 percent respectively.
For the record, 92.1 percent of vehicle sales in August took place through the conventional dealer channels, while 4.2 percent represented sales to government, and 2.9 percent to corporate fleets. Just 0.04 percent went to the rental car industry, which is reeling under the international tourism ban.
On an equally worrying note, vehicle exports were down by 46.9 percent year-on-year, and are on track to fall by around 40 percent in 2020. However, Naamsa believes there is potential for recovery here as major export destinations are starting to ease their lockdown restrictions, with many actively stimulating their new vehicle markets.
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While the South African new vehicle market saw a modest improvement of 3.4 percent in August, versus the previous month, sales are still substantially down year-on-year, with last month’s total sales figure of 33 515 units representing a 26.3 percent decline over August 2019.
Passenger cars once again took the biggest plunge, falling by 32.6 percent to 19 545 units, largely thanks to almost zero demand from the rental car industry, while light commercial vehicles fell by 19.4 percent. On the upside, there was a slight uptick in the market for medium and heavy commercial vehicles, which saw encouraging year-on-year gains of 7.7 percent and 9.0 percent respectively.
For the record, 92.1 percent of vehicle sales in August took place through the conventional dealer channels, while 4.2 percent represented sales to government, and 2.9 percent to corporate fleets. Just 0.04 percent went to the rental car industry, which is reeling under the international tourism ban.
On an equally worrying note, vehicle exports were down by 46.9 percent year-on-year, and are on track to fall by around 40 percent in 2020. However, Naamsa believes there is potential for recovery here as major export destinations are starting to ease their lockdown restrictions, with many actively stimulating their new vehicle markets.
SA vehicle sales take another year-on-year plunge in August, as Eskom hinders recovery
While there was a slight month-on-month improvement, South Africa’s vehicle market is not showing any meaningful signs of recovery.
