Another dismal month for car sales

In April 2008, 46,643 vehicles were sold. This year it dropped to 26,283.

Industry leaders said they were disappointed by the further slump, particularly as reasonably good March sales were expected to spark some reassurance in the marketplace.

Commenting on the latest figures released today by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), Jacques Brent, vice president sales and marketing of Ford SA, said: “April is a notoriously poor sales month because of all the public holidays. This year, the challenge was exacerbated by the National Elections, which further reduced the number of selling days.”

All market segments shared the loss reasonably evenly. When compared with the corresponding month in 2008 Passenger cars performed the best after the Bus market (-29.8%), recording a 38.7% drop in sales.

The Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicle Segment bore the brunt of the poor sales month, reflecting a 67.9% loss of sales.

Following two successive months of growth, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa followed the market trend with a 26.1% decline in sales to 1,828, still marginally ahead of the industry decline and one of the top four best selling brands.

Fiesta once again accounted for the most sales (718 units) followed by Bantam (558 units), Mazda2 (247), while the recently launched XC60 was Volvo's best seller (46).

“We were always expecting a challenging sales month during April and not too much should be read into last month's figures given the lack of sales days,” says Brent. “With a stronger Rand, and another 100 basis points drop in the interest rate, not to mention a return to regular selling days, there are a number of positive indicators for a better sales month during May.”

Top passenger sales by model and volume:

1. VW Polo (1,024)
   
2. Toyota Yaris T3 (779)
   
3. Mercedes C-Class (736)
   
4. Ford Fiesta (718)
   
5. VW CitiGolf (678)
   
6. BMW 3-Series (653)
   
7. Toyota Corolla (648)
   
8. VW Polo Classic (468)
   
9. VW Golf 6 (435)
   
10. Toyota Fortuner (415)