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New vehicles sales jump 9% in January
Overall new vehicle sales – including Mercedes-Benz numbers, with the company no longer reporting specific segment sales, as well as sales by new reporter Great Wall Motors – improved by 8.8%, to 49 111 vehicles, compared with January last year.
New vehicle sales statistics released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) on Thursday, showed that new passenger car sales jumped to 35 428 units compared with the 32 963 new cars sold during January 2011.
Naamsa said the January new car market represented the highest sales for the first month of the year in the past five years, receiving strong support from car rental companies which accounted for about 17% of sales.
The association warned that the absence of Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) commercial vehicle sales data made year-on-year comparison in this segment – which includes bakkies and trucks – difficult.
MBSA is the number one truck seller in South Africa.
“The focus, therefore, for the time being, will be on total commercial vehicle sales,” noted Naamsa.
Total commercial vehicle sales, at 12 394 units, showed an improvement of 250 units, or 2.1 %, compared with the 12 144 units recorded last year.
Exports of South African produced vehicles, excluding MBSA export sales data, at 10 445 vehicles, registered an improvement of 260 units, or 2.6%, compared with the 10 185 vehicles (including MBSA export data) exported during January last year.
UTILITY DETHRONED, JUKE PROVES POPULAR
When looking at the top vehicles sold in January 2012, it is significant to note that the Chevrolet Utility half-tonner (1 205 units) lost its long-standing market leadership to the Nissan NP200 (1 506 units).
The new Utility was launched at the end of last year.
From this year on, there is extra market share up for grabs in this segment, following on the discontinuation of the Ford Bantam, which usually sold between 700 and 800 units a month.
Also interesting is that Porsche sold 97 units, with Nissan’s unique Juke – described as a moon-buggy by some – making a strong showing at 602 units. Great Wall Motors moved 860 units.
The Toyota Hilux remained South Africa’s most popular vehicle, at 2 774 units sold.??
Source - EngineeringNews
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