Sales of new vehicles in South Africa rose by 17.2% year on year in February but growth clearly slowed in a trend set to hold during 2006, an industry body told Reuters on Friday.
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Overall sales hit a record in 2005, surging by 25.7%, but the auto industry is being pressured by sustained strength in the rand currency, which is taking a toll on the country’s mining and manufacturing exports, the news agency noted.
“The fundamentals supporting the industry remain positive and whilst growth in new vehicle sales is likely to continue, the rate of improvement is expected to decline relative to previous years,” the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) reportedly said.
“Industry projections for 2006 continued to anticipate an improvement in aggregate sales for the year of about 10%,” it added in a statement cited by Reuters.
New vehicle sales rose to 50,196 units in February compared to 42,822 units during the same month last year and 48,821 during January.
NAAMSA reportedly said new export programmes would help boost overseas sales over the rest of 2006. Domestic sales have been the main driver of strong growth over the past couple of years, with the lowest interest rates in more than two decades igniting demand.
Exports increased 41.5% to 7,927 units, compared with January, Reuters added.
“Current projections for 2006 – taking into account various new light commercial and multipurpose vehicle export programmes – suggested an improvement in exports of about 45%, NAAMSA told the news agency.
