Johannesburg – For the 11th month in a row, the South African new vehicle market has registered growth.
According to Automotive Business Council Naamsa, a total of 49 413 vehicles were sold in November 2022, representing an impressive 18.2% growth versus the same month last year.
As with last month, the light commercial vehicles and bakkies led the way here with a 20.8% year-on-year gain, versus 16.9% for the passenger vehicle sector. The latter was strongly supported by the rental industry in November, accounting for 20% of car sales. Medium and heavy commercial vehicle sales increased by 17.5% and 22.6% respectively.
According to Naamsa, 81% of new vehicle sales last month took place through the dealer channels, while 14.7% went to rental fleets, 2.3% to government and 2.0% to corporate fleets.
There was positive news on the export front too, with 34 310 vehicles shipped off, representing a year-on-year rise of 64.7%, keeping in mind that November 2021 was affected by a fourth Covid-19 wave in Europe. Year-to-date, however, export sales are still 17.9% ahead of last year.
Volkswagen was the top exporter with a volume of 9 790, followed by Mercedes-Benz (8 691) and Toyota (5 590). On the domestic sales charts, Toyota was the top performer by quite a margin, with 13 903 sales, compared to Volkswagen’s 6 406 and Suzuki’s 4 287.
10 top-selling brands: November 2022
- 1. Toyota – 13 903
- 2. Volkswagen – 6 406
- 3. Suzuki – 4 287
- 4. Nissan – 3 167
- 5. Hyundai – 3 002
- 6. Ford – 2 347
- 7. Haval – 2 220
- 8. Isuzu – 2 027
- 9. Kia – 1 892
- 10. Renault – 1 801
Log onto IOL Motoring on Friday for our full list of the 50 top-selling vehicle models.
Market thriving against the odds
According to Naamsa, the South African vehicle market has outperformed all expectations this year, and at the end of November was running 13.6% ahead of the same period in 2021. This is in spite of numerous negative economic pressures, including rising interest rates, high fuel prices, severe load shedding and stock shortages. However, the association expects this growth to slow in 2023, in line with downwardly revised GDP figures.
“The recovery in business and leisure travel provided some support to the new vehicle market to counter the growing pressures on household incomes,” Naamsa said.
“GDP growth in South Africa continues to be adjusted downwards and was now expected to be at 1.1% for 2023. In view of the close correlation between new vehicle sales and the country’s GDP growth rate, single digit growth in new vehicle sales could be expected for 2023.”