New-car sales at full throttle despite headwinds

New-vehicle sales in May overcame economic headwinds to record an encouraging 15.6% increase on the previous month’s and a 10.1% rise on those of May 2022, according to motor industry body Naamsa.

This was in spite of interest rate hikes, the rand weakening, supply chain disruption and rising inflation, Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa said.

At 43,060 units, total sales in May were 3,959 units higher than the corresponding month in 2022, driven mostly by light commercial vehicles which rose 38.5%. Passenger cars rose 0.1%, medium commercials 2.7% and heavy trucks 19.3%.

Year-to-date total newvehicle sales of 218,869 units are 3.0% higher than in last year’s matching period.

Vehicle exports in May 2023 were 31,437 units for a record gain of 67.5% compared with May 2022, boosted by the newgeneration Ford Ranger and VW Amarok bakkies coming on stream at Ford’s Silverton plant. It came off a low base in May 2022 when vehicle exports were affected by the KwaZuluNatal floods, which caused the temporary closure of Toyota’s Prospecton factory.

Naamsa said another positive note was 14.5% growth of new energy vehicles for year-to-date April compared with 2022’s matching period. Sales of pure electric vehicles rose 105.8%, hybrids rose 7.9% while plug-in hybrids fell 21.8%

Naamsa cautioned against too much optimism driven by the sales growth, however.