December 2020 car sales drop by 10.1%

South Africa’s car sale numbers for December 2020 were 10.!% less than that of the same period in 2019.

Naamsa announced that December 2020 saw an aggregate industry sales of 37 493 units of new vehicle sales. In December 2019, this number was 41 683.

In a statement, Naamsa said: “The new vehicle market continued to edge higher, albeit at a slower pace, during December 2020, with aggregate industry new vehicle sales at 37 493 units recording a decline of 4 190 vehicles or a fall of 10,1% compared to the total new vehicle sales of 41 683 units during the corresponding month of December 2019.

“The December 2020 new passenger car market and light commercial vehicle market reflected a mixed performance with a year-on-year volume decline of 14,4% in the case of new cars and an increase of 3,2% in the case of light commercial vehicles. Sales of heavy commercial vehicles and buses remained weak, declining year-on-year by 15,6%,” they continued.

“Overall, out of the total reported industry sales of 37 493 vehicles, an estimated 33 750 units or 90,0% represented dealer sales, an estimated 6,0% represented sales to the vehicle rental industry, 2,5% to the government, and 1,5% to industry corporate fleets.”

The drop in sales from 2019 to 2020 can be attributed to the recession and pandemic. “Following the year-on-year decline in new vehicle sales of 2,8%, in volume terms, in 2019, the crippling effects of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a massive decline in new vehicle sales of 156 163 units, or 29,1%, from 536 612 units in 2019 to the 380 449 units in 2020. Vehicle sales are linked to the strength of the economy and the pandemic not only deepened an existing economic recession, but its severe impact resulted in that the domestic new-vehicle market in 2020 dropped back to the levels of two decades ago.” said Naamsa.

South Africa’s 10 best-selling passenger vehicles of December 2020

Naamsa no longer publishes individual car model statistics to the public, Car Magazine released a list of the top-selling vehicles for December 2020 in South Africa:

1. Volkswagen Polo Vivo – 2 022
2. Volkswagen Polo hatchback – 1 569
3. Toyota Starlet – 1 126
4. Toyota Corolla Quest – 1 004
5. Toyota Fortuner – 942
6. Volkswagen T-Cross – 823
7. Hyundai i20 – 671
8. Ford Figo – 666
9. Ford EcoSport – 623
10. Hyundai Venue – 580

Picture: Women on Wheels Gallery