Local sales of heavy vehicles on the skids

©Dmitry Kalinovsky via 123RF

Even the news that vehicle finance applications for cars and bakkies set an all-time record did little to lift the gloom.

A suggestion by the National Association of Vehicle Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) that recent Reserve Bank indicators could herald the start of a market rebound in 2017, of up to 4%, received short shrift elsewhere.

"I like their optimism and would really like to agree and say things will get better," said Standard Bank's Nicholas Nkosi. "But I see nothing in those figures, or anywhere else, to make us change our view that, at the very best, the 2017 market will be flat. It will be another challenging year."

Figures released on Thursday showed that in November, sales of new cars fell by 13.8% from the corresponding month in 2015, and sales of all new vehicles by 9.6%.

Cars dropped from 32,882 to 28,334 and the total market from 51,338 to 46,413.

The biggest crash was suffered by trucks and buses. November sales of medium trucks were down 18.7% from a year earlier, heavy trucks 20% and buses 53.8%.

Almost the only good news came from exports. They grew by 12.1% in November, from 28,113 to 31,508. For the year to date, they grew 3.1%, from 316,401 to 326,169.

Naamsa described the immediate outlook for domestic sales as "extremely challenging". Double-digit increases in new-vehicle prices, pressure on disposable incomes, low levels of consumer and business confidence and relatively high interest rates "represent a negative environment for sales".

Premium vehicles are faring worst as consumers shift their attention to entry-level and South African-built vehicles. Mahoney said the five best-selling new vehicles so far this year were all local: Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, VW Vivo, VW Polo and Toyota Quantum.

Mahoney, however, said actual demand was undiminished. Finance applications for cars and bakkies set an all-time monthly record of 148,000 in November, eclipsing the previous best of 141,000.

Though many of these applications were rejected, Mahoney said the trend showed a strong shift away from new vehicles towards used.

Source: Business Day