South Africa’s commercial vehicle industry reported another growth month in October with year-on-year statistics recording growth of 5.3% or 2 648 units.
Looking at year-to-date figures, total new commercial vehicle sales are up by 3.3% when compared to the first ten months of 2017, to a total of 22 560 units.
During October, sales in the Medium Commercial Vehicle segment increased by 11.6% over the same month in 2017, to 782 units. Sales of heavy commercial vehicles grew by 0.4% to 521 units, while sales in the Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicle segment increased by 5.2% to 1 224 units. Bus sales were down by 8.3% to 121 units.
This is according to the latest results released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), Associated Motor Holdings (AMH) and Amalgamated Automobile Distributors (AAD).
“The industry had to contend with a lot of socio-political and macroeconomic instability, but still managed to rally and produce very positive results,” said Gert Swanepoel, managing director of UD Trucks southern Africa. “
To put things in perspective, during the global economic crisis in 2009, the market didn’t even reach 19 000 units that year. Now in 2018, amidst an official recession in South Africa, the market is projected to reach more than 26 000 sales.
One of the noticeable trends in the commercial vehicle sector was the enormous demand for good quality used trucks, he added.
