November new vehicle sales have, as expected, shown consolidation following the remarkably strong sales performance of October, notes the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa).

According to the new vehicle sales statistics for November released by the Department of Trade and Industry on Tuesday, the industry sold 51 098 units, reflecting a marginal improvement of 468 vehicles, or 0.9%, compared with the 50 630 vehicles sold in November 2013. However, this figure presented a decline of 8 282 vehicles, or 13.9%, compared with October 2014 total industry sales of 59 380.

The latest monthly new car market suggested ongoing pressure at retail dealer level.

As such, the 33 278 new car sales for November showed a decline of 845 cars, or 2.5%, compared with the 34 123 new cars sold in November 2013. “Some consolidation in the new car market had been expected following the exceptionally strong sales recorded in October when 40 663 new cars were sold,” explained Naamsa.

“Sales of light commercial vehicles continued to show strong upward momentum and had, once again, exceeded industry expectations,” commented Naamsa.

Estimated industry sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses totalling 15 076 for November reflected an improvement of 1 468 units, or 10.8%, compared with the 13 608 light commercial vehicles sold in the prior corresponding month.

Compared with November 2013, estimated industry sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry declined by 10 units to 1 061, or 0.9%, and 145 units to 1 683, or 7.9%, respectively.

However, November new vehicle exports reflected further upward momentum, with 28 021 units exported, a 2 519, or 9.9%, increase on the 25 502 vehicles exported in the previous corresponding period. “A major contribution came from the relatively high export numbers by Mercedes Benz South Africa,” Naamsa highlighted.

Meanwhile, the association remained conservative regarding the expected performance of the automotive sector for the balance of 2014 and into 2015.

“Subdued economic growth, past increases in interest rates and above-inflation new-vehicle price increases results in a difficult trading environment, particularly at franchise dealer level.

“Against the background of current normalised industry vehicle production volumes, further improvement in export numbers may be anticipated over the remainder of 2014 and through 2015,” added Naamsa.