Category Archives: Vehicle Sales

800 new vehicles were sold in July, a 5.1% m/m decrease from the 843 sold in June. This brings the total number of vehicle sales in 2021 to 5,693. Despite this monthly drop, over the past 12 months total vehicle sales have grown by 8.9% y/y to 9,119 with passenger and light commercial vehicles continuing to make up the bulk of the sales. On a year-on-year basis, new vehicle sales rose 19.4% in July.

389 new passenger vehicles were sold in July, a 9.5% m/m decrease from the 430 sold in June. Year-on-year passenger vehicle sales increased by 68.4%. Year-to-date passenger vehicle sales have increased by 51.5% y/y, as 1,760 vehicles were sold by this time last July compared to the 2,666 figure this year. Beating 2020’s figures should, and is so far proving, to be an easy task. However, new passenger vehicle sales continue to trail the (already low) pre-pandemic levels of 2019. On a 12-month cumulative basis, the number of passenger vehicles sold increased by 18.6% y/y in July.

A total of 411 new commercial vehicles were sold in July, virtually the same number as in June. New commercial vehicle sales have decreased by 6.4% y/y. 376 light, 13 medium and 22 heavy commercial vehicles were sold in this period. While the sale of light commercial vehicles increased by 13.6% from June, the sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles both declined on a month-on-month basis. On a 12-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales have increased by 0.4% y/y, medium commercial vehicles fell by 14.9% y/y, and heavy commercial vehicles increased by 28.7% y/y, although the increase is from a very low base.

The ongoing two-way battle between for supremacy in the Namibian commercial and passenger vehicle market between Toyota and Volkswagen rolls on. Volkswagen regained top spot in the year-to-date sale of passenger vehicles with 30% of the market share. Toyota’s market share of passenger vehicles over the same period is 28%. Kia and Hyundai make up 8.5% and 5.7% of the market respectively.  

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota remains the preeminent seller of light commercial vehicles with a 55% share of the market. This is more than four times the share of their nearest competitor, Ford at 13%. Hino and Mercedes each make up 32% of the total medium commercial vehicles sales on a year-to-date basis. The heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicle market is the most competitive of the vehicle markets, with no one seller amassing more than a quarter of total market share.

The Bottom Line  

July’s new vehicle sales figures bear no marked difference to June’s. 2021 remains on track to be the second worst year for vehicle sales in the past decade. By this time in 2019, itself a below par year for vehicle sales over the last 10 years, 6,227 new vehicles were sold, in 2021 that number is only 5,693. Naturally this is an improvement on 2020’s sales figures (4,186 total) but as noted earlier, that is not difficult to accomplish. More tellingly, sales figures for new passenger and commercial vehicles are below pre-pandemic averages, showing that both individual and business spending remains depressed. As vehicle sales and most other high-frequency data is indicating, the economic recovery has a long way yet to go.         

843 new vehicles were sold in June, an increase of 6.4% m/m from the 790 vehicles sold in May. The first half of 2021 has observed a total of 4,893 total vehicle sales, of which 2,277 were passenger vehicles, 2,218 light commercial vehicles, and 398 medium and heavy commercial vehicles. By comparison, the first half of 2020 saw 3,516 new vehicles sold. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, a total of 8,991 new vehicles were sold as at June 2021, representing a 4.4% expansion from the 8,609 sold over the comparable period a year ago.

A total of 430 new passenger vehicles were sold during June, a 20.1% increase from the 358 passenger vehicles sold in May. Year-to-date, 2,277 passenger vehicles have been sold, which translates to a 48.9% increase from the same period in 2020. On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger vehicle sales rose to 3,958, 9.3% higher than in June 2020.

A total of 413 new commercial vehicles were sold in June, representing a decline of 4.4% m/m. 3,311 Light commercial vehicles, 19 medium commercial vehicles, and 63 heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicles were sold during the month. Light commercial vehicle sales dropped 10.8% m/m, medium commercial vehicle sales rose 26.7% m/m, and heavy commercial vehicle sales increased by 37.0% m/m. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales have declined by 0.3% y/y, medium commercial vehicles fell by 21.8% y/y, and heavy commercial vehicles increased by 27.1% y/y, although the increase is from a very low base.

Toyota surpassed Volkswagen in terms of year-to-date market share of new passenger vehicles sold, recording a 29.0% market share. Volkswagen dropped to second place with a 28.3% market share, compared to the 31.2% share in May. Kia and Hyundai followed, with 8.6% and 5.8% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 28.3% of the market to other brands.

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota maintained its dominance in the light commercial vehicle space with a 53.8% market share, Ford climbed to second place with 13.5% of the market, followed by Nissan, with a market share of 13.4%. Mercedes leads the medium commercial vehicle segment with 32.0% of sales year-to-date. Scania remained number one in the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 25.5% of the market share year-to-date.

The Bottom Line

June was a respectable month for new vehicle sales, despite a raging third wave of Covid-19 infections in the country, coupled with the introduction of new lockdown restrictions. An average of 379 new passenger vehicles were sold per month in the first half of 2021, which is well above the average of 254 in the comparable period of 2020, but still trails slightly below the average of 411 in the first 6 months of 2019. On the commercial front, total commercial vehicle sales in the first half of the year are 31.7% higher than the comparable period in 2020, with light and medium commercial vehicle sales increasing by 25.6% and 22.0% year-on-year, respectively, while heavy commercial vehicle sales recorded the largest increase of 114.4% y/y. Despite these increases, the commercial sector lags well behind the comparable period’s 10-year pre-Covid-19 average (2010-2019) when total new commercial vehicle sales were 50.1% higher than they are now. Overall, this reflects a long path to recovery in the commercial sector.  

May observed 792 new vehicle sales, an increase of 4.9% m/m from the 755 vehicles sold in April. As at 31 May, 4,052 new vehicles were sold for the year, of which 1,849 were passenger vehicles, 1,887 light commercial vehicles, and 316 medium and heavy commercial vehicles. By comparison, the first five months of 2020 saw 2,750 new vehicles sold. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, a total of 8,914 new vehicles were sold as at May 2021, representing a 1.1% expansion from the 8,820 sold over the comparable period a year ago, though 22.9% lower than at May 2019.

A total of 360 new passenger vehicles were sold during May, a slight uptick of 0.6% from the 358 passenger vehicles sold in April. Year-to-date, passenger vehicle sales rose to 1,849, 56.0% higher than during the same period in 2020, but 11.7% lower than at May 2019. On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger vehicle sales rose to 3,874, 6.0% higher than in May 2020, and 23.2% lower than in May 2019.

A total of 432 new commercial vehicles were sold in May, representing an increase of 8.8% m/m. 371 Light commercial vehicles, 15 medium commercial vehicles, and 46 heavy and extra heavy commercial vehicles were sold during the month. Light commercial vehicle sales rose 15.2% m/m, medium commercial vehicle sales posted a second consecutive month of declines, dropping 25.0% m/m, and heavy commercial vehicle sales decreased by 16.4% m/m. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales have declined by 2.1% y/y, medium commercial vehicles fell by 30.2% y/y, and heavy commercial vehicles entered positive territories for the first time since April, last year, increasing by 10.8% y/y.

Although Volkswagen continues to lead in the new passenger vehicle sales segment, its market share declined from 34.7% last month to 31.2% of sales year-to-date, followed by Toyota whose market share rose to 25.3% from 24.9% a month ago. Kia and Suzuki continued to trail, with 8.7% and 6.2% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 18.1% of the market to other brands.

On a year-to-date basis, Toyota continued as the leader in the light commercial vehicle space with a 54.0% market share, Nissan maintained second place with a 13.5% market share. Ford and Isuzu claimed 13.1% and 5.8%, respectively, of the number of light commercial vehicles sold thus far in 2021. Mercedes surpassed Hino as the leader in the medium commercial vehicle segment with 33.3% of sales year-to-date. Scania remained number one in the heavy and extra-heavy commercial vehicle segment with 23.8% of the market share year-to-date.

The Bottom Line

The number of total new vehicle sales has ticked up every month this year on a year-on-year basis, all but confirming an ongoing recovery in vehicle sales. This is further evidenced by average monthly vehicle sales for 2021 standing at 810, compared to the 634 in 2020. Furthermore, the cumulative 12-month new passenger vehicle sales have been on the rise on a month-on-month basis for 6 consecutive months, indicating improvements in consumer confidence. Despite the glimmers of recovery, total vehicle sales still lag the pre-Covid-19 era, when an average of 868 sales were made per month in 2019. Interestingly, monthly passenger vehicle sales for 2021 have averaged 370, slightly below the average of 380 recorded in 2019. This indicates that it is the commercial sector that has been impacted the hardest by the pandemic and continues to struggle. This year’s monthly average commercial vehicle sales are 9.6% lower than an already low base of 488 in 2019, which indicates muted activity in Namibia’s commercial sector, as few new businesses enter the scene, while existing businesses rely on their existing vehicles instead of expanding their fleet.