Car sales bouncing after World Cup

According to figures released today (Tuesday) by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), July sales are up 20% on July last year and 3,7% up on June.

What makes the sales increase quite important is that June was a particularly good year with sale sup by 220,5% over the same month in 2009.

Missing the Cup, get a car

"The void left by the absence of soccer in South Africans lives seems to have allowed them to return their focus to new vehicle decisions," says Ford SA's vice president Marketing, Sales and Service, Dean Stoneley.

"While second half sales were expected to be slower than leading up to the World Cup, July numbers indicate a buoyant market driven by dealer sales."

Passenger car sales of 29 203 drove the overall market growth with a hefty 32,4% increase over July 2009.

However, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) were less successful taking a 2,7% knock over the same period last year and down 7,2% on June.

Go Figo; have a Fiesta

Medium (up 10,4%), Heavy (up 3,3%) and Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicles (up 31,1%) continued their good sales trends compared to July 2009. Bus sales declined a dramatic 75,6%, but this was expected post World Cup requirements.

Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) successfully introduced the Ford Figo to the market during July with 598 units finding new entry-level buyers. This helped drive FMCSA passenger car performance 13,4% up on last month, with continued strong performance from Fiesta. The results returned FMCSA to number four on the passenger car rankings, a position the company continues to enjoy in the overall market as well.

"Affordability remains an important aspect of new vehicle purchases in SA," says Stoneley. "Figo represents a good opportunity for Ford to continue offering consumers a value for money product, while also enticing them into newer generation products such as Fiesta."

Top performing passenger vehicles were:

Top performing light commercial vehicles were: