South Africa’s new vehicle sales – including exports – felt the impact of the cost of living and dampened consumer and business confidence, combined with the country’s port challenges and persistent load-shedding.
This undermined the new vehicle market’s recovery plan, according to the monthly report on new vehicle sales for January issued by Naamsa (the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa).
Naamsa chief executive officer Mikel Mabasa said exports had declined by 442 units to 20 242 units compared to the equivalent month in 2023.
Aggregate domestic new vehicle sales in January were 41 636 units, reflecting a decline of 1 658 units, or a fall of 3.8%, from the 43 294 vehicles sold in January 2023. This trend extended the five consecutive months of decline up to the end of 2023 in the new vehicle market.
Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 41 636 vehicles, an estimated 35 108, or 84.3%, represented dealer sales, an estimated 11.5% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 2.2% to industry corporate fleets, and 2% to government.
