JOHANNESBURG – 8 January 2010 – New vehicle sales for December continued to show the depressed state of the motor industry according to figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa). “While December sales are traditionally skewed by delayed purchase decisions and registrations, sales were lower than in December 2008, which were already in decline then,” says Vice President Sales and Marketing, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent.
Total market sales for December dropped 7,2% to 30,478 units compared to December 2008, which is 12,3% down on November 2009. “Taken in context of the overall sales for 2009, these figures look a little more reassuring in terms of trend because the total market declined 25,9% over 2008. Overall December's decline versus November was in keeping with the trend of between 10% and 12% that we have seen over the last few years," says Brent.
Passenger car sales slowed 8.8% over the same period last year, but were 16.4% lower than November. This was mostly due to the model run-outs at Volkswagen. Light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales continued to show resilience and stability, recording a marginal 0,3% decline over the same period in 2008 and 0,1% higher than November 2009.
The annual picture is a different one, however. Passenger car sales during 2009 slowed 21,6% over 2008, while LCVs performed less well with a 30,2% decline over the same period last year.
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) ended the year on a high note with an excellent December sales result, bucking the market trend in both passenger and LCV sales which increased 20% and 2,9% respectively. “The recently introduced Ford Everest continued to sell well, while Fiesta was the third best selling passenger car in December,” says Brent. FMCSA total, passenger and LCV sales all performed in the top three positions in December sales.
“We are naturally hoping for a turnaround in the market and some renewed impetus for sales during 2010, both from an industry perspective as well as our own Ford business,” says Brent. “However, we will only really be able to see some reliable trends and sales results from the end of March once the December-January period and the shorter February sales month draws to a close.”
Notes to editors:
Sales figures quoted from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) include overall sales figures reported by Associated Motor Holdings. These figures are also included in the numbers quoted for the corresponding month in the previous year.