New-vehicle sales slide deeper into a rut
First-half performance disappoints, but there’s some good news for manufacturers
New-vehicle sales ended the first half of 2024 as they started it — in a sorry state.
Figures released on Monday by industry association Naamsa included 40,072 new cars and commercial vehicles being sold last month. That was 14% fewer than the 46,603 sold in June 2023. In the first six months of this year aggregate sales totalled 246,052 or 7.4% less than the 265,773 at the same stage in 2023.
Car sales fell 9% last month, from 29,599 to 26,928. For a second month running, sales of light commercial vehicles, mainly bakkies and minibuses, took a heavy knock, down 24.3% from 13,937 to 10,552. Medium-sized trucks lost 27.7%, heavy trucks 20.5% and extra heavy trucks 12.3%.
However, there was some good news for manufacturers. Vehicle exports improved 3.6% in June, rising to 28,306 from 27,329 a year earlier. For the year so far, however, they lag 2023’s by 9.6%— 156,244 against 172,836.