New car market picking up speed

Combined January and February 2010 sales are up by 18% compared to the same period in 2009.

However, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) warned that the improvement should be seen in relation to the low sales levels in February last year, which had reflected the impact of the global financial crisis at the time.

Overall, out of the total NAAMSA reported industry sales of 34 314 vehicles, 78.2% or 26 819 units represented dealer/retail sales, 12.1% represented sales to the car rental industry, 5.0% sales to government and 4.7% represented industry corporate fleet sales.

Exports expected to improve

Exports of South African-produced vehicles during February 2010 at 14 123 vehicles had registered a decline of 753 units or 5.1% compared to the 14 876 vehicles exported during February last year.

Looking at the international environment and taking account of indications of a revival in demand for South African produced motor vehicles, export sales are expected to improve in the months ahead. At this stage, manufacturer's projections suggested that overall industry export sales could grow by about 32% from last year's level of 174 947 vehicles.

The recently launched Volkswagen Polo of which 3578 units were sold heads the list of the top 10 best sellers during February. Second and third places both went to Toyota with Hilux totalling 2809 and Corolla selling 1688 units.

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class again substantially outsold BMW 3 Series with 1356 Mercs sold vs 946 Beemers.

2010 boosts market

Mike Glendinning, director of sales and marketing, Volkswagen SA, said, “We captured 21% of the market in February and this was spearheaded by the strong market debut of the all-new Polo.”

He said VW of SA exported 3404 of the new Polos to right-hand drive markets around the world in February.

The market in February was probably also boosted by growth in demand for new cars from rental car companies in preparation for the Soccer World Cup, now just 100 days away and by a slow improvement in general economic circumstances.

Motor industry leaders are optimistic about the uptick in new vehicle sales with many seeing it as the early stage what they hope will be a sustainable recovery.