Exports boost new vehicle sales

Domestic new vehicle sales of 52,368 in February were only 584 units more than the same month last year but export sales shot up by 35.6% to 29,760 units - which means that 7,819 more vehicles were shipped overseas during the month.

Of the total the local new vehicles, 44,347 units (84.7%) went to dealers while the balance went to industry corporate fleets and Government.

Of the total sales, 34,909 were cars (an increase of just 1.5% on February last year) while light commercial vehicles, bakkies and mini buses also only record a small increase of 1.8%.

In contrast, sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry had registered fairly substantial declines. Medium commercial vehicle sales at 768 units and heavy commercial vehicle sales at 1,553 units, reflected a decline of 151 units or 16.4% in the case of medium commercials and, in the case of heavy trucks and buses, a decline of 57 vehicles or a fall of 3.5%, compared to the corresponding month last year.

Industry sources project an export increase of about 20% (between 320,000 and 330,000 vehicles) in 2015 on the back of normalised industry production while only marginal year-on-year domestic growth is expected.