Rough ride as car sales slump
NEW vehicle sales in South Africa slipped 6.8% to 53025 units in January from the similar period a year ago‚ according to the latest figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa)‚ which signalled tough times ahead.
"Domestically‚ 2014 new vehicle sales are likely to experience headwinds as a result of above-inflation average new vehicle price increases‚ the slowdown in the economy and‚ more recently‚ rising interest rates‚" Naamsa said.
New passenger car sales fell 7% to 38008 units in the review period‚ with new vehicle exports dropping 19.7% to 13960. The drop in exports was due in a large part to the lack of export sales by Mercedes-Benz SA as the company retooled for the production of the new C-Class.
Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles slipped 6.6% to 13145‚ the data shows. Sales of medium commercial vehicles were unchanged at 780 units while heavy trucks and buses were down 8% to 1092 units. – BDlive
