New vehicle sales in April up 36% y/y
The remarkably strong growth in new vehicle sales during the first quarter of 2010 continued during the month of April, with aggregate industry sales at 35 763 units registering an improvement of 36% compared to the 26 288 vehicles sold during the corresponding month in 2009, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) reported today, Tuesday, 4 May 2010.
It said however that the improvement should be viewed in relation to the low sales registered this time last year due to the impact of the global financial and economic crisis at the time.
"Nevertheless, the growth momentum in new vehicle sales improved further during April 2010 with the year to date improvement running at 22.2% compared to the first quarter 2010 growth rate of 18.7%.
"Aggregate export sales also registered strong growth," NAAMSA said.
Industry sales
Overall, out of the total NAAMSA reported industry sales of 30 462 vehicles, 85.7% or 26 037 units represented dealer/retail sales, 7% represented sales to the car rental industry, 4.2% represented industry corporate fleet sales and 3.1% sales to government.
Aggregate industry new car sales during April 2010 had again exceeded expectations and at 23 606 reflected a massive improvement of 6 843 units or 40.8% compared to the 16 763 new cars sold during April 2009.
Despite the number of public and school holidays during April 2010, the new car market had performed well with the selling rate of new cars per day remaining relatively robust.
Sales of industry new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 10 572 units during April 2010 reflected an improvement of 2 558 units or 31.9% compared to the 8 014 units of the corresponding month last year.
Sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry reflected a mixed performance and at 529 units and 1 056 units, respectively, had recorded a decline of 165 units or a fall 23.8% in the case of medium commercials, and a gain of 239 units or 29.3% in the case of heavy trucks and buses - compared to the corresponding month last year.
Exports
Exports of South African produced vehicles during April 2010 at 17 592 vehicles had registered a gain of 5 989 units or an improvement of 51.6% compared to the 11 603 vehicles exported during April last year.
The revival in demand internationally for South African produced motor vehicles would support industry export sales going forward.
NAAMSA said the outlook for domestic sales for 2010 remained relatively positive and could gain momentum as economic activity levels improved further.
The domestic market should receive support from further improvement in business confidence and consumer sentiment as well as lower inflation and the benefits of interest rate reductions.
Export sales were expected to show further improvement over the balance of the year.
The automotive market in South Africa was at an early stage of what probably represented a sustainable recovery and industry sales projections had recently been revised upwards to reflect growth in aggregate sales for calendar 2010 of around 14%.
Source: I-Net Bridge
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