New vehicle sales up 24.7%

New vehicle sales in 2010 reflected a 24.7% increase on 2009, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) said on Monday, 10 January 2011.

"For 2010, new vehicle sales reflect an encouraging and impressive performance across all sectors, particularly the new car segment. In the event, industry aggregate sales for calendar 2010 at 492,956 units had improved by 97,770 vehicles or 24.7% compared to the total of 395,186 new vehicles sold in South Africa during the previous year.

"Importantly, the improvement should be seen in relation to the depressed sales levels and low base during 2009 as a result of the impact of the global financial and economic crisis at the time compounded by a recession in the domestic economy," NAAMSA said.

"The improved aggregate industry sales total for 2010 remained well below the annual aggregate sales achieved in each of the years 2005 through 2008," the association added.