Total South African new-vehicle sales declined by 23.9% in September, to 37 403 units, compared with the 49 140 vehicles sold in the same month last year.

The new-passenger-car market fell by 31.2%, to 22 798 units.

Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses declined by 8.9% in September, to 12 267 units.

Medium truck sales, at 680 units, were down 13.9% compared with September last year, while the heavy truck and bus market declined by 5.8%, to 1 658 units.

September new-vehicle export sales, at 28 704 units, fell by 20.9%.

“For the year to date the [total] new-vehicle market has now contracted by 33.4%, or 132 878 units, compared with the corresponding period last year,” says the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa.

“The easing of lockdown restrictions to Level 1 during September contributed to an uptick in business activity and new-vehicle demand.

“However, business conditions remain far from normal and the new-vehicle market is expected to remain under pressure in the current economic scenario.”

Some good news is that September new-vehicles sales were 12% up on the August figure of 33 515 units.

“An estimated 33 080 units, or 88.4% of the September total, [were] sales through the dealer channel, compared with 30 875 units, or 92%, of the total in August,” says National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA) chairperson Mark Dommisse.

Dealer sales were, however, only 11.6% down on September a year ago, indicating reassuring consumer demand, he notes.

“Government spend is clearly up and supporting the market, with sales through government channels amounting to 5% of the total,” adds Dommisse.

“The rental industry took 3.7% of the total, while 2.9% were bought by industry corporate fleets. The rental share was still low, but at least it was better than the figure for August, which is important as the rental companies are a major source of vehicles for the used-car market.”

The light commercial vehicle (LCV) market held up well in September, being only 8.9% lower than the LCV market in August last year, says Dommisse. 

The LCV segment was buoyed by some 1 217 units sold to government, he notes.

“In effect, the LCV market could have been down 17.9% if it weren’t for these government sales.”