October motor trade sales up 4.4% y/y

Fuel sales and new vehicles pushed sales up for motor trade sales in October. Image: cooldesign Free Digital Photos

The highest annual growth rates were recorded for fuel sales (6.7%)‚ new vehicle sales (6.1%) and sales of accessories (4.6%).

Seasonally adjusted motor trade sales increased by 1.4% in October compared with September. This followed month-on-month changes of -1.1% in September and -2.3% in August.

Seasonally adjusted motor trade sales increased by 0.3% in the three months ended October compared with the previous three months.

Motor trade sales increased by 6.0% in the three months ended October this year compared with the same period last year.

Stats SA said the major contributors to the increase were fuel sales (12.2% and contributing 3.2 percentage points) and new vehicle sales (7.0% and contributing 1.9 percentage points).