South Africa Fleet Sales Fall Due to Low Economic Growth

The sale of light commercial vehicles in South Africa declined 22.1% in November 2019 when compared to the same period last year, which is partially a product of the region’s current low economic growth environment and enduring pressure on household disposable income due to rising costs of living, which is impacting business and consumer confidence.

Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles were at 10,679 units during November 2019 and recorded a decline of 3,038 units from the 13,717 light commercial vehicles sold in November 2018, according to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA).

Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 44,738 vehicles, 3.1% went to industry corporate fleets, according to the NAAMSA.

Meanwhile, NAAMSA also confirmed that aggregate domestic new vehicle sales, at 44,738 units, reflected a decline of 2,740 units or 5.8% from the 47,478 vehicles sold in November last year.

Sales in the low volume medium- and heavy-truck segments of the industry both performed weaker during the month, reflecting 733 units and 1,882 units sold, respectively. This reflected a decline of 60 vehicles, or a fall of 7.6%, in the case of medium commercial vehicles, and a decline of 34 units, or a fall of 1.8% for heavy trucks and buses, according to NAAMSA.