Strong passenger car demand, frustrating LCV sales

The new and long-awaited Nissan Almera compact sedan really got its teeth into the market with sales of 439 units in its first full month of availability, and with Nissan Micra chipping in with 391- this gave Nissan its best penetration in the B-segment in months.

"Almera has done exactly what we wanted it to do, and that's to give us a volume product in a very important segment of the market," says Johan Kleynhans, Nissan South Africa's marketing, sales and aftersales director. "With Nissan Sentra on the horizon to do a similar job in the upper end of the C-segment, we're looking forward to a much stronger presence in the three-box arena in coming years.

"This will certainly help in the short-term too and we expect to maintain our momentum well into the new year," added Kleynhans.

Unfortunately, severe stock shortages of Nissan's locally-manufactured light commercial vehicles - the NP200 and NP300 - affected deliveries in the second half of August, costing an estimated 750 sales and causing huge frustration for dealers and potential customers alike.

"Industrial action had a dramatic and sudden impact on what initially looked like being a very good month for us, especially for our half and one-tonne bakkies. We were unable to capitalise on the continued LCV demand which is being driven by sustained economic activity and infrastructure needs," lamented Kleynhans. "Nevertheless, in the first eight months of the year Nissan has increased sales by 706 units or 2.1% compared to the same period last year, and remains on track to have a full-year market share of just over nine percent."