JOHANNESBURG – 2 December 2009 – New vehicle sales figures for November released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) don’t continue the positive trend shown over the last two consecutive months, and indicate that hopes of an improving market are still some way off.
Total market sales for November dropped 5.1% to 34 295 units compared to last month. November new registrations were down 6.7% on the same period last year. Year-to-date sales indicate a 27.1% decline, the market reaching 364 812 new vehicles sales compared to the 500 562 recorded to November last year.
Compared to last month, the light commercial vehicle segment was the only one to show any form of resilience with just 30 sales less than October. However, LCV sales dropped 22% on November 2008, a trend strongly opposed to the 4.4% gain in sales by passenger cars over the same period. Passenger car sales did, however, slump 7.2% compared to October 2009.
“The industry should become wary of comparing year on year sales,” warns Vice President Sales, Marketing and Service, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent. “Taken out of context, year on year sales look quite promising, in particular the 4.4% gains shown by the passenger car marketing during November. However, by November 2008, the SA car market was already in its significant downward spiral and the indicated changes year on year are therefore already off a low base.”
Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy commercial vehicles, as well as buses, showed some sustainability at current levels, but remain substantially lower than this time last year.
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) sales were aided by the introduction of the new Ford Everest during November. The newcomer accounted for 178 sales in its first month. Fiesta remained their best-performing passenger car, all 468 units retailed through the dealer network. Mazda3 remained the strongest performing Mazda with 208 units sold during November.
FMCSA’s overall market position was skewed by the removal of Volvo car sales from their total. Despite this fact, the company’s passenger car sales fell only 3% over November 2008.
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