The decline evident in South Africa’s new-vehicle market over the last few months accelerated in September, with sales dropping by 9% to 55 322 units, compared with the same month last year.
New-vehicle sales dropped by 8.2% in August, 6.1% in July and 4.8% in June.
Sales numbers released by the Department of Trade and Industry show that new pas-senger car sales declined by 13.2% in September to 37 309 units.
Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini-buses, at 15 121 units, improved by 0.3%, while sales of medium trucks, at 890 units, contracted by 1.3%.
New heavy truck and bus sales dropped by 8.9% to 2 002 units.
Vehicle exports maintained their upwards trend for the year, however, increasing by 14.3% to 35 181 units.
Consumers are reluctant to buy durable goods despite attractive incentive packages on offer by most automotive companies, com-ments the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa.
“Intense competition in the market continues to put pressure on margins throughout the automotive value chain. An interesting feature of the September new-car market is that 21.9%, or more than one in every five new cars sold, have been purchased by the car rental industry.”
Naamsa expects current weak market conditions to persist over the medium term.