Johannesburg - New vehicle sales last month were dented by the back-to-back strikes in the motor manufacturing industry and the retail motor industry, which includes the automotive component manufacturing sector.
However, there was a slight recovery in exports of locally produced vehicles compared with September following production resuming towards the middle of last month.
Nico Vermeulen, the executive director of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa), said on Friday that the impact of strikes had been reflected particularly in the September vehicle export numbers, which had recorded a year-on-year decline of 75.1 percent.
Vermeulen said Naamsa’s original industry projection of 336 000 vehicle exports this year was likely to be revised downwards to about 290 000 units because of the strikes.
However, Vermeulen said the momentum of vehicle exports should improve next year as export programmes were ramped up, with exports of light commercial vehicles in particular expected to increase substantially in the new year.
Vermeulen said the export figures showed some recovery last month as manufacturers resumed and normalised vehicle production from about the middle of the month, resulting in export sales declining last month by 15.1 percent to 21 125 units compared with the 24 892 exported in October last year.
Wessel Steffens, the head of Absa Vehicle and Asset Finance, said the prolonged industrial action had wiped out the year-to-date export growth of 20 percent prior to the strikes to a level that was now 1.7 percent behind that of last year.
Vermeulen said overall new vehicle domestic sales declined by 2.9 percent in volume terms to 56 927 units in October from 58 631 units a year earlier.
New car sales dropped by 4.4 percent last month to 40 102 units from a year earlier.
However, sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses improved marginally by 0.2 percent year on year to 14 125 units.
Sales of medium commercial vehicles improved year on year by 10.5 percent to 996 units and heavy truck and bus sales by 2.2 percent to 1 704 units.
Brian Olson, the vice-president for vehicle sales, service and marketing at General Motors South Africa, said last month’s vehicle sales statistics showed a continued loss in momentum in sales after four years of positive growth although year-on-year sales remained positive for the year and 2013 was still set to be a growth year for the industry.
“With 10 month’s sales in the books the industry remains in the black with growth of 3.9 percent over the same period in 2012. The goal of 5 percent growth for the year may still be achievable as the industry drives towards its third best year ever,” he said. - Business Report