JOHANNESBURG – 3 November 2009 – New vehicle sales figures for October released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) showed some reassuring stability after the small growth recorded last month indicating a stronger market performance overall, and especially compared to the same period last year.
While the market only consumed 167 more new vehicles in this month than in September, the 36,082 new registrations is only 12,5% down on October 2008 against a year-to-date market slump of 28,8%.
The passenger car market showed its second consecutive period of month on month sales growth with a 3,3% gain in October over September 2009. The positive result is shared by a significant drop in the variance considered against the same period last year, October showing only a 3,7% decline in passenger cars sales. This was mainly due to the growth shown by Associated Motor Holdings of 53% on a year over year basis.
However, the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment couldn’t muster similar levels of performance recorded in September, that market declining 24,4% over October 2008 and 5,9% over last month.
Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy commercial vehicles, as well as buses, continued to show declines over August and in line with the continued depressed state of that segment of the market.
“October was one of the best performing months this year in terms of passenger car sales and the beginning of some real indication that the market has settled at or near the bottom,” says Vice President Sales and Marketing, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent. “While the passenger car growth can largely be credited to a good rental market in October, the state and volatility of the LCV market remains unsettling.”
After good LCV performance in September, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) sales were thwarted by the general downturn in October of that segment, total company sales reflecting a 5,8% decline. The group’s passenger car sales were boosted 8,7%, however, thanks to 740 new Ford Fiesta registrations in October and continued strong performance from the recently launched Mazda3. Ford Ranger remained the best-performing LCV for the group with 761 units sold.
“The imminent arrival of the new Ford Everest and improved supply of Fiesta will provide some welcome buoyancy for Ford sales in the last two months of the year along with the continued strong performance of one of the freshest range of models available on the market today,” says Brent. “November’s sales figures will hopefully give the market some indication of its intended sentiment for 2010 before the usual December-January juggle of sales and registrations.”
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.