2010 SALES HEADED FOR SURPRISE FIGURE

Vehicle sales in South Africa in November were better than expected, according to the CEO of McCarthy, Brand Pretorius. “November is normally not a good month for the motor trade from a seasonal perspective and it is encouraging to note that last month’s figures matched the excellent sales recorded in October.

“The November sales performance provided further evidence that positive momentum is building in the new vehicle market. Healthy increases in sales over the corresponding period last year were recorded in all segments of the market with total sales increasing by almost 30%.

“Particularly noteworthy was the strong performance of the commercial vehicle segment, which is in alignment with a higher level of business confidence and improved prospects for economic growth,” explained the McCarthy chief executive.

Car sales were 28.9% up on the figure for November 2009, while light commercials jumped 28%, mediums, which have been in the doldrums, increased by 47.9% and heavy trucks and buses continued to perform well with an improvement of 53.6%.

Pretorius ascribed the strong sales to better stock availability, with virtually all the local vehicle manufacturing facilities working a lot of overtime as they made up for the time lost during strike action earlier in the year. This resulted in popular models such as the Toyota Hilux, Volkswagen Polo and Vivo and Toyota Fortuner attaining almost record sales for the year last month.

He added that another factor which impacted sales positively was replacement demand, particularly in the fleet segment. Four year ago the new vehicle market was at a record high and many of those vehicles now need to be replaced.

“Sales to private individuals were also at healthy levels last month, spurred on by enhanced vehicle affordability due to low vehicle price inflation, extended repayment periods on instalment sales and an interest rate at a 30-year low.

“The year 2010 is turning out to be far better than originally anticipated. New vehicle sales should reach 490 000 units, which will represent an improvement of 24% over last year,” concluded Brand Pretorius.

STORY COURTESY OF WILKEN COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT