New vehicle sales accelerate slightly

The motoring industry body NAAMSA said the July sales were very much in line with what the industry expected because of subdued economic growth and above-inflation new vehicle price increases.

" Whilst the outlook for the automotive sector for the balance of the year appear less promising than at the beginning of 2013, the year as a whole will still represent the second or third best year on record with aggregate sales of about 660,000 vehicles versus the record of 714,000 achieved in 2006", a spokesman said.

Overall, out of the total reported July sales of 58,140 vehicles, 47,665 units or 82,0% represented dealer sales, 11,4% represented sales to the vehicle rental Industry, 4,6 % to Industry corporate fleets and 2,0% to government.

Some gains, some losses

During July 40,274 new cars were sold which represented an improvement of 2,430 units or a gain of 6,4% compared to the 37,844 new cars sold in July last year.

Industry new vehicle exports of 26,608 vehicles registered a modest decline of 994 units or 3,6% compared to the 27,602 vehicles exported in July last year. The Industry remained on target for new vehicle export growth of around 18%, in volume terms, for 2013.

During July Volkswagen recorded its best monthly result in 2013 with sales of 10,613 units which include 9,842 passenger vehicles representing a 24.4% share in this segment of the market.

Polo Vivo was the top selling passenger car at 3 574 units, with Polo next at 2,618 units. The new Golf GTI, which was launched last month, boosted the sales of the new Golf to 908 units. New Golf GTI sold 477 units in its first month of retail. Audi also strengthened its position in the premium segment with the delivery of 1,750 units.