“Despite a disruptive first two weeks due to the elections, the passenger car market held its own on dealer floors with a 2.6% increase year-on-year. This was mainly due to the uptick of sales in the more affordable price category of passenger cars. The light commercial vehicle market was severely under pressure with significant volume reductions seen this month of -15.1% compared with May 2018,” says Mark Dommisse.
“The economic uncertainty until the announcement of election results mid-May affected the market, which is clearly evident across the full commercial vehicle sector,” continues Dommisse.
“With the election behind us and government’s focus on stabilising the economy, we should see more stability in the new vehicle market in the second half of the year,” concludes Dommisse.
- Overall dealer sales channel for May 2019 – 35,506 new vehicles (passenger and commercial vehicles) sold on dealer floors in May 2019 (2018: 37,175 showing a -4.5% variance in sales on dealer floors compared to the same month last year)
- Passenger cars sold on dealer floors May 2019: 22,619 new passenger cars sold on dealer floors in May 2019, increase of 2,6% (May 2018: 22,046)
- Cumulative year-on-year May 2019 vs May 2018 – 178,505 new vehicles sold on dealer floors year-to-date to May 2019 (2018: 186,272 showing a -4.2% decline on dealer floors year-on-year)
