Fall off in SA new car sales no cause for panic, Renault importer says

South Africa’s car industry has been battered by a tough economy and the impact of Covid-19 as consumers move to buying used, instead of new cars but automotive giant Motus believes it can get the best out of both worlds.

The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa’s (Naamsa’s) new vehicle sales data for August shows that sales declined by 26% for that month compared to August 2019. At the heart of the decline is lower consumer spend as people put discretionary high value purchases on hold due to a weak economy

According to TransUnion SA’s Vehicle Pricing Index (VPI), for the 2020 second quarter, vehicle financers have been financing 2.31 used cars for every 1 new car, the highest since the 2017 third quarter. The index measures year-on-year price increases for new and used cars  of South Africa’s top 15 manufacturers by volume.