New vehicle sales returned to positive growth in May following the traditionally poor April results, indicating that the market continues to be in recovery. This is according to figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa).
May new vehicle sales rose to 39,095 units, 9,5% ahead of last month and 35% higher than the same period last year. Year to date sales are 24.6% ahead of the first five months of 2009.
Top Performing New Passenger Vehicles – May 2010
- VW Polo Vivo – 1 933
- TOYOTA Corolla – 1 171
- MERCEDES C-Class – 1 127
- VW Polo – 1 123
- BMW 3-Series – 844
- TOYOTA Fortuner – 813
- VW Polo Vivo Sedan – 613
- VW Golf 6 – 527
- FORD Fiesta – 461
- TOYOTA Prado – 372
Top Performing New Light Commercial Vehicles – May 2010
- TOYOTA Hilux – 2 777
- TOYOTA Quantum – 1 055
- ISUZU KB – 880
- CHEV Corsa Utility – 860
- NISSAN NP200 – 817
- FORD Bantam – 675
- NISSAN NP300 Hardbody – 667
- FORD Ranger – 570
- MAZDA BT-50 – 375
- OPEL Corsa Utility – 274
Source: Naamsa
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa’s response:
“April is a notoriously bad sales month, so not much should be read into May results against last month,” says vice president Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent. “We are concerned about May when viewed from a daily sales rate perspective, which indicates that May was under some pressure from a retail perspective, we will need to see if that trend continues into the next few months.”
Passenger car sales ended May on 25,714 units, 36,2% ahead of May last year and 9.1% up on last month. The Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) sector shared the spoils, 32,6% ahead of May 2009 and 8,9% higher than last month. LCV sales totaled 11,501 units in May.
Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles sales returned to better form, 40,8% and 29,7% better than May 2009 respectively. This has limited year to date losses in these segments to 9,2% and 3,7% respectively. Extra Heavy Commercials and Busses remained buoyant, as they have for the duration of the year.
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) resolved some of its stock and production issues during May. Both the company’s passenger cars and LCVs outstripped prevailing market conditions during the month, recording 14,3% and 20,5% growth respectively over April. Total FMCSA sales rose 17,5% over April levels.
“Our previous month’s sales activities were challenged by stock and production issues, which means May sales are more recovery than outright growth for FMCSA,” says Brent. Fiesta took passenger car honours in terms of sales leadership for the company with 461 registrations in May. Bantam was responsible for 675 new registrations for FMCSA during May.
“May was not without its challenges, not least the Transnet strike, and this has no doubt impacted the entire industry to some extent,” says Brent. “These effects will continue to be felt during June as supply gets back to normal during the month and this could be further impacted somewhat by the soccer fever.”
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