MOTORING NEWS - December experienced a slight increase in passenger car sales compared with 2023.

Whether this trend will continue in 2025 depends on interest rate reduction and other economic factors.

Here is a brief overview of sales across the sector:

• Passenger vehicles: 351 302 units sold year-to-date (YTD) in December 2024, a 1.1% increase compared to 2023.

• Medium trucks and buses: 7,714 units were sold YTD in December 2024, a 6.5% decrease from 2023.

• Heavy trucks and buses: 23 442 units sold YTD in December 2024, a 4.9% decrease compared with December 2023.

New vehicle and total export sales:

• Passenger vehicles: Local sales increased by 8.2% and export sales decreased by 25.7% in December 2024 compared with 2023.

• Light commercial vehicles (LCV < 3 501kg): Local sales decreased by 10.3% and exports increased by 19.5% in December 2024 compared with the same period in 2023.

• Medium commercial vehicles (CV 3 501 to 8 500kg): Local sales increased by 7.6% in December, while there were no export sales.

• Heavy commercial vehicles (CV 8 501-16 500kg): Local sales decreased by 5.7% and export sales increased by 57.1% in December compared with the same period in 2023.

• Extra heavy commercial vehicles (> 16 500kg): Local sales decreased by 16.4% and export sales increased by 208.3% in December 2024 compared with 2023.

• Buses (> 8 500kg): Local sales increased by 36.8%, while export sales increased by 66.7% in December compared with the same month in 2023.

• Industry total: Local sales increased by 2.5%, while export sales decreased by 4.3% in December 2024 compared with December 2023.

Top 10: Total vehicle sales by manufacturer

• Toyota: 11 422 local and 10 338 export

• Volkswagen Group SA: 4 832 local and 572 export

• Suzuki Auto: 4 514 local and 18 export

• Hyundai Automotive South Africa: 2 826 local

• Ford Motor Company: 2 607 local and 4 145 export

• Chery Auto South Africa: 1 867 local and 25 export

• GWM SA: 1 686 local and 105 export

• Kia South Africa: 1 496 local

• Isuzu Motors South Africa: 1 364 local and 277 export

• Renault: 1 105 local.

Top 10: Total commercial vehicle sales by manufacturer

• Toyota: 418 local and 1 export

• Daimler Truck Southern Africa: 382 local and 5 export

• FAW Trucks: 274 local and 50 export

• Isuzu Motors South Africa: 244 local

• Scania: 176 local and 8 export

• Volvo Group Southern Africa: 151 local and 10 export

• UD Trucks Southern Africa: 138 local and 10 export

• Sinotruk: 130 local

• Ford Motor Company: 87 local

• MAN: 85 local.

Article: Caxton publication, The Citizen

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