Statistics released by South Africa’s auto industry body NAAMSA show that the vehicle market grew by 15.5% year-on-year in January, though the organisation warned that January last year was exceptionally weak.
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January vehicle sales were up 15% to 38,075 units, while car sales ‘exceeded expectations’ to grow by 20% on last year to 27,008 units.
Due to inventory constraints, production, shipping and timing issues, exports of South African produced motor vehicles during January reached just 9,130 vehicles – a decline of 14.8% on last year.
However, NAAMSA said that ‘clear signs had emerged of a revival in demand for South African produced motor vehicles in foreign markets’ and an improving trend was forecast. Manufacturers’ projections suggested that overall industry export sales could grow by around a third on last year’s level of 174,952 vehicles exported.
NAAMSA said that the cumulative 5% decline in interest rates between end 2008 and August, 2009 should contribute to an improvement in the financial position of households and businesses and stimulate demand for new vehicles.
Other factors which would influence vehicle sales positively during 2010 included expected economic growth of 2% plus and the 2010 World Cup Finals, which it said would boost demand from the car rental industry.
NAAMSA said the general outlook for domestic sales for 2010 was for a ‘slow improvement in demand as the economy emerged from recession’. Aggregate domestic sales could increase by between 7% and 10%, it said. However, the improvement would be off a very low base.
South Africa’s vehicle market ended 2009 on a relatively weak note, with the sales total for the whole year turning out a their lowest since 2003.
Vehicle sales for 2009 as a whole declined by 25.9% over the previous year to stand at 395,230 units, underlining the severe impact of the economic recession being experienced in South Africa. At the 2006 peak, South Africa’s vehicle market hit 714,315 units.
The 2009 car market was down by 21.6% to 258,132 units.
