The SA Vehicle Industry Thread

How Indian-built cars have helped prevent an affordability crisis in South Africa

If you bought a relatively inexpensive car ten or 20 years back, chances are it was built in South Africa, Europe, Japan or South Korea.

Of course, today affordability feels more relative than ever as consumers drown under stubbornly high interest rates, sky-high fuel prices and a general cost of living that seems to laugh at what people earn nowadays.

But were it not for a certain country located about 8,000km to the north-east, things would be a lot worse for the entry-level car consumer in Mzansi.

In recent years India has become something of an industrial powerhouse, churning out relatively affordable cars that South Africans are lapping up in bigger numbers than ever.

India currently ranks as the fourth-largest automotive producer in the world. While most of its output is consumed domestically, South Africa is its biggest export market, accounting for 17.7% of the country’s vehicle exports in the last financial year, according to India Today.


www.indiatoday.in

Why South Africa’s love for Indian cars is crucial to economic growth

South Africa is the largest importer of Indian cars, with cars worth $1.54 billion sold in the 2022-23 financial year, which accounted for 17.7% of India's total vehicle exports that year.
www.indiatoday.in www.indiatoday.in
 
FiestaST said:
How Indian-built cars have helped prevent an affordability crisis in South Africa

If you bought a relatively inexpensive car ten or 20 years back, chances are it was built in South Africa, Europe, Japan or South Korea.

Of course, today affordability feels more relative than ever as consumers drown under stubbornly high interest rates, sky-high fuel prices and a general cost of living that seems to laugh at what people earn nowadays.

But were it not for a certain country located about 8,000km to the north-east, things would be a lot worse for the entry-level car consumer in Mzansi.

In recent years India has become something of an industrial powerhouse, churning out relatively affordable cars that South Africans are lapping up in bigger numbers than ever.

India currently ranks as the fourth-largest automotive producer in the world. While most of its output is consumed domestically, South Africa is its biggest export market, accounting for 17.7% of the country’s vehicle exports in the last financial year, according to India Today.


www.indiatoday.in

Why South Africa’s love for Indian cars is crucial to economic growth

South Africa is the largest importer of Indian cars, with cars worth $1.54 billion sold in the 2022-23 financial year, which accounted for 17.7% of India's total vehicle exports that year.
www.indiatoday.in www.indiatoday.in
Click to expand...
If it wasn't for unions and government policies causing restriction and stagnation, this country could easily take on India and China. My worry is that SA goes the same way as Australia and becomes a 100% importer of vehicles.

East London losing Merc or PE losing VW would be catastrophic!
 
Hilux vs Ranger: single- & double-cab sales in June 2024

The Hilux and Ranger again led SA’s bakkie sales race in June 2024. But which pick-up dominated in the single-, extended- and double-cab segments? We have the figures!

By now, you would have read our list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies for June 2024, yet again topped by the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger. But what does the picture look like when we separate the sales by the single-, extended- and double-cab body styles?

Well, since Naamsa’s monthly sales report unfortunately doesn’t include a breakdown of the 3 bakkie body styles, our friends over at Lightstone Auto have again kindly supplied us with these fascinating figures.

Before we dive into sales by body style, keep in mind that the Hilux topped the 1-tonne bakkie charts overall in June 2024, selling a total of 2 435 units. The Ford Ranger (1 868 units) was 567 sales off the pace in 2nd, while the Isuzu D-Max again took 3rd with 1 794 units.

As you might have seen in our H1 2024 bakkie sales story, the Hilux (15 745 units) remains in a comfortable pole position year to date, ahead of the Ranger (12 212 units) and D-Max (9 449 units).

 
BAIC says SA factory could produce cars for other Chinese brands as limited production commences

The updated BAIC Beijing X55 SUV is easing off the assembly line at the company’s facility in Coega, Eastern Cape, putting to rest some speculation it was just an empty shell.

Although the 70,000 sq/m facility was commissioned in 2016 and heading for completion, the Covid lockdown scuppered all those plans and the entire operation had to be restarted, delaying plans for actually getting the semi-knocked down units built and into local dealers.

BAIC Automobile South Africa was established in 2016 as a joint venture between the China BAIC Group and the South African Industrial Development Corporation in which the BAIC group owns 65% of the shares and the IDC owns 35% of the shares.

In its current assembly-only status, the plant has a potential capacity of up to 50,000 units a year on the highly-automated production line, but currently, actual production is well below this, with limited quantities of the Beijing X55 model coming off the production line to be shipped to the 52 dealers around the country.

 
Here’s how South African vehicle buying habits have changed in the last 15 years

Numerous global markets have seen robust growth in the past decade, but South Africa’s vehicle market has for the most part been stuck in second gear.

Data from Naamsa - The Automotive Business Council - shows that while the country’s new vehicle market did recover from the lows of the global recession and pandemic, which saw sales dip below 400,000 units in 2009 and 2020, it still trails the period between 2020 and 2016 when the market rose above the 600,000 mark.

Just 531,787 vehicles were sold in 2023, bringing the market back to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

 
SA new-vehicle sales in July 2024: new highs for 3 brands

South Africa’s new-vehicle market recorded a marginal year-on-year increase in sales in July 2024. Here’s your market overview, including Mzansi’s most popular brands…

Finally, some good news. In July 2024, new-vehicle sales in South Africa registered a 1.5% increase year on year to finish on 44 229 units. Though this gain – which is only the 2nd instance of year-on-year growth so far this year – is certainly marginal, Naamsa says it “could be the turning point for an improved 2nd half” of 2024.

Indeed, as many as 3 brands inside the top 10 – the Volkswagen Group, Ford and Hyundai – recorded new highs for the year. In addition, July’s performance represented a 10.4% improvement over June 2024’s effort.

 
10 best-selling bakkies in South Africa: July 2024

The bakkie battle continues! We’ve sorted through the sales stats to identify South Africa’s best-selling bakkies for the month of July 2024…

In July 2024, South Africa’s new-vehicle market (finally!) registered some marginal year-on-year growth, with total sales increasing 1.5% to 44 229 units. However, the light-commercial vehicle (LCV) segment slid 8.8% year on year to finish the month on 11 554 units.

But what happened on the list of South Africa’s best-selling bakkies in July 2024? Well, the Toyota Hilux enjoyed a 24.1% month-on-month increase to end on 3 021 registrations, putting the Prospecton-built bakkie way out in 1st place. As many as 386 units came via the rental channel.

 
Vehicle sales tide finally turns: these were South Africa’s 50 top sellers in July 2024

Following months of steady decline ahead of the general election and subsequent formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), South Africa’s new vehicle sales finally bounced back in July.

Although the gains were modest, with the market improving by 1.5% versus the same month last year, Naamsa - the Automotive Business Council - said this could be the turning point that leads to an improved performance in the second half of the year.

Passenger cars led the recovery by growing 6.8% year-on-year, with buoyant rental industry sales accounting for 17.1% of the pie, while light commercial vehicle sales dropped by 8.8% versus July 2023. Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales declined by 6.6% and 3.7% respectively.

Vehicle sales for July totalled 44,229 units, with passenger cars accounting for 29,934 units and light commercials amounting to 11,554. 81.1% of all vehicle sales took place through the dealers.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X