Domestic sales and export figures for locally manufactured cars are sketching a gloomy picture, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) has revealed.
According to the association domestic sales of vehicles were down 5.7% in May, recording a total of 40 506 sold on home turf in May.
This comes after locally manufactured car sales showed marginal local sales improvement of 0.7% in April.
Export figures from one of South Africa’s strongest manufacturing sectors are also veering to the grim side, with a decrease of 2 866 cars exported year-on-year for the same month.
Last May a total of 35 582 new cars left local shores for foreign markets. This year car makers could only manage 32 716.
Altogether it heralds an 8.8% dip in exports.
Naamsa stated though that for the first quarter (Q1) period vehicle exports were 20.1% stronger than last year, mainly thanks to strong sales experienced both locally and abroad from January to March.
Unfortunately the dip in manufacturing, said to be 9.1% and expected to be confirmed when Stats SA announces its GDP data, is expected to weigh on figures and projections for June, the last month of Q2.
