In the domestic market in November, new vehicle sales registered marginal gains (where at all) compared to the corresponding month last year, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa).
But, it added, a noteworthy feature was the sharp recovery in heavy and extra heavy truck sales.
In November, aggregate new vehicle sales were 51 256 units, only up 0.4% from the 51 055 vehicles sold in November last year.
Sales of new cars actually dropped 0.6% to 33 038 units.
New light commercial vehicles (LCVs), bakkies and mini buses improved sales by 1.1% to 15 242 units.
Sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments reflected a mixed picture. Medium commercial vehicle sales dropped 3% to 1 028 units. But, in contrast, heavy and extra heavy sales registered a substantial improvement of 16.4% to 1 948 units.
Naamsa predicted that domestic new vehicle sales would remain under pressure during 2016 and industry projections for next year would be revised downwards.
