A harsh trading environment characterised by frequent bouts of stage 4 load-shedding, steep fuel price increases and a 25 basis point increase in interest rates, failed to put brakes on November’s car sales data.
Sales hit 41,588 last month, which is marginally higher than the 41,035 in October and a 6.6% increase over November 2020.
The upswing was largely driven by 27,828 passenger cars finding buyers last month, a 9.4% gain over November last year, while bakkies and light commercials dipped 0.8% to 11,156 units.
Passenger cars were bolstered by strong demand from the rental industry which accounted for 15.6% of November car sales, said the Naamsa Automotive Business Council.
Medium and heavy truck sales were up by 22.1% and 8.1%, respectively. Export sales plummeted 42.2% to 19,548 units compared with November 2020, but were still 8.3% ahead year-to-date.
Local sales continue to be hampered by stock shortages of some models caused by pandemic-induced manufacturing supply chain disruptions, such as the current global shortage of semiconductors.
“While it remains difficult to compare data over periods given the uncertainty of the pandemic for the past two years, a more certain sign of market improvement can be seen in a broader view of sales performance,” said Lebogang Gaoaketse, head of marketing and communication at WesBank.
“Market conditions are certainly improving,” he said.
“The rental companies supported passenger car sales over recent months, but the travel bans imposed on SA due to the Omicron variant could unfortunately once again negate the support received by the market via this channel,” said Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa.
“With the added inflationary pressures of the record-high fuel prices and prospects of further interest rate increases, businesses and consumers will undoubtedly remain under financial pressure”.
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