At the same time, the Association also reported a one percent decrease in total vehicle sales for the year which came to 552 190 compared to the 557 703 units sold in 2017. In one of its biggest jumps on record, exports for December skyrocketed by 56.3% from 20 107 to 31 437, resulting in an overall 3.9% improvement to 351 154 vehicles versus the 338 096 shipped in 2017.

Despite not revealing final figures, new passenger vehicle sales dropped by 0.2% with overall units moved for the past 12 months coming in at 365 246, 0.8% down on the 386 114 posted in 2017, while light commercial vehicles declined by seven percent with a final total of 159 452, a 2.4% decline compared to 2017’s 163 317.

After a number of months ending in the green, medium commercial vehicle sales dropped by 10.1% to end the year on 7 913, a small 0.3% gain on the 7 890 units moved in 2017, while heavy-duty commercial vehicle sales improved by 13.8% in December with a total of 19 579 examples sold, a massive 6.5% increase on the 18 382 moved in 2017.

Describing 2018 as being “characterised by subdued by domestic sales offset by growth in vehicle exports”, NAAMSA said it only expects domestic sales to improve by one percent to 558 000 units this year based on current projections, warning that a more substantial uptake is, however, a necessity.

“South Africa critically needs to achieve higher economic growth to fulfil its potential, address the many challenges confronting the country in terms of development and employment and to deliver improvement in the quality of life. A higher economic growth rate was also essential to support higher domestic new vehicle sales volumes,” it said in a statement.

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