Statistics released by the Department of Trade and Industry on Friday show that April new vehicle sales dropped by 10.7%, to 46  013 units, compared with the same month last year.

The South African new passenger car market remained under pressure during April and, at 30 848 units, declined 3 648 units, or 10.6%, compared with April last year.

Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses, at 12 796 units, declined by 11.5%, while sales of medium trucks, at 795 units, dropped 12.3%.

New heavy truck and bus sales shrunk by 3.9%, to 1 574 units.

April vehicle export sales from South Africa plummeted by 32.6% compared with the same month last year, to 16 801 units.

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) says in a statement that the effects of a difficult economic environment were in April compounded by the high number of public holidays compared with the same month last year.

“The resultant reduced number of trading and industry production days impacted substantially on domestic sales levels, and particularly on industry vehicle exports. As a result of the public holidays, the absolute declines recorded were more pronounced than the underlying trend.”

Year-to-date sales figures are 5.1% down on the same four months last year.

With the contribution of Mercedes-Benz C-Class exports kicking in from July, industry vehicle exports are expected to recover during the second half of 2014, says Naamsa.

However, the association warns that prospects for the rest of the year will be affected by subdued economic growth, above-inflation new vehicle price increases and further upward pressure on interest rates. 

Consumers also remain under pressure owing to high levels of indebtedness, escalating energy and transport costs and, in Gauteng, e-tolling. 

As a result of the challenging macro economic environment, the association now anticipates that the 2014 South African new vehicle market will decline by around 3.5% compared with 2013.

Naamsa in February expected a flat market for 2014.

“The outlook for 2014 remains that the new car market will remain depressed,” adds WesBank head of research Rudolf Mahoney. “[But] there will be significant growth in the used car market.”