Back to News

Bouyancy of Vehicle Market Surprises in August

•    Total vehicle sales of 46 377 reported for 28-month industry high
•    Market up 25,1% year to date versus 2009
•    Dealer daily sales rates increase to 1538 / day
•    Bumper month for GMSA with 6 346 units sold
•    1 122 sales for Chevrolet Spark range

NAAMSA vehicle sales statistics for August surprised with a total of 46 377 deliveries for the month driven largely by increased sales in the passenger vehicle sector. This was a 28-month high for the South African motor industry.

“The level of activity in the vehicle market during August exceeded expectations with a welcome boost to sales in the passenger sector,” says Malcolm Gauld, General Motors South Africa’s Vice President Sales and Marketing. The majority of deliveries came from the Passenger sector with some additional support in the Light Commercial vehicle market.

Relatively high demand from the rental sector resulted in an increase in passenger vehicle sales. Rental fleet operators looked to refresh and replace the fleet that had done service during the soccer world cup period. There was also a good degree of support from private and fleet buyers bringing purchases forward to avoid the price increase associated with the introduction of emissions tax. Using Dealer daily sales rates as a barometer, in August Passenger sales ran at 1006 / day vs the July rate of 926 / day.

There is currently a great deal of new model excitement in the market that is feeding interest in new vehicles and creating showroom traffic. In GMSA’s  line-up, the Hot New  Chevrolet Spark is a clear winner, with sales for this new model and its Spark Lite sibling lifting the Chevrolet Spark nameplate into fifth position on the sales log for the month with 1 122 deliveries. The Chevrolet Cruze sedan, with the addition of a diesel variant to the range during August, had its best sales month to date with 644 deliveries.

“The performance of the market in August lifted year-to-date industry sales to 25,1% versus 2009. However, we still believe that the industry may not yet be totally free of economic constraints that could tamper sales towards year end,” cautions Gauld.

In the Light Commercial sector, the dealer daily sales rate increased to 438 / day vs July at 407 / day.  GMSA was again ranked a strong second with 2 266 deliveries. The Chevrolet Corsa Utility continued its domination of the sub 1-ton pick-up market with 1 195 sales supported by 1 002 Isuzu KB deliveries. These two vehicles were ranked second and third respectively in LCV sales for the month.