Tough economic conditions reflected in May vehicle sales
A tough domestic economy continued to take its toll in May, with new-vehicle sales in the local market declining by 2.6% to 41 783 units, compared with May last year.
Sales numbers released by the Department of Trade and Industry earlier this month showed that new passenger car sales declined by 2.5% in May to 26 317 units.
Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses, at 13 410 units, declined by 1.5%.
Sales of medium trucks, at 583 units, dropped by 13.6%.
New heavy truck and bus sales contracted by 10% to 1 473 units.
New-vehicle exports, at 29 596 vehicles, fell by 12%, compared with the 33 619 units exported in May last year.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) noted in a statement that this decline should be seen in the context of new-vehicle exports in May 2016 reaching the second highest monthly number on record.
“Following the modest improvement in new-vehicle sales during the first three months of 2017, the outlook for the balance of the year is somewhat uncertain,” added Naamsa.
“The current polarised political environment in South Africa, together with prospects of subdued economic growth over the short to medium term, continues to weigh on business confidence and consumer sentiment.
“Domestic new-vehicle sales are closely correlated with the overall performance of the South African economy and confidence levels. At this stage, domestic new-vehicle sales for 2017 are likely to be flat, at best.”
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation