Category Archives: Vehicle Sales

A total of 1,525 new vehicles were sold during March, an increase of 13.0% from the February sales of 1,350 and down 29.1% over March 2015, owing to a fall in sales in both passenger and commercial vehicles. Year to date, a total of 4,264 vehicles have been sold in 2016, which is 26.6% below vehicle sales recorded for the same period in 2015.

Rolling 12 month sales continued to contract after turning negative in December for the first time in 69 months. The year on year 12 month percentage change contracted 12.8% during March, falling below the 20,000 level for the first time August 2014.

Sales of passenger vehicles rose by 20.1% month on month, from 606 in February to 728 in March. The annual passenger vehicle sales fell by 20%. Commercial vehicle sales continue to come in higher compared to passenger vehicles. Commercial vehicle sales declined by 35.7% year on year bringing the total sales to a figure of 797 vehicles, due to lower sales of both light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles. An increase of 7.4% in commercial vehicle sales was recorded in March, in comparison to February sales.

The passenger vehicle sales have recorded a decent growth in March, this growth was mostly on account of Toyota and Volkswagen, with Volkswagen selling 213 (29%) and Toyota selling 188 (27%) of the 728 passenger vehicles sold. Toyota retained the market share in the light commercial vehicle sales, recording a market share of 48%, which is 7% above February’s market share, followed by Nissan at 11% and Isuzu at 10% taking Ford’s position last month.

 The Bottom Line

We have seen exceptionally strong vehicle sales growth through 2014 and 2015, fuelled by a strong consumer base supported by expansionary fiscal policy and real wage growth, but the latest figures show that this trend is losing momentum. Strong vehicle sales over the last two years have elevated the base substantially which has led to lower percentage growth figures. Although the number of vehicles sold as a whole is still relatively strong, we expect to see a decrease in vehicle sales as purchase of vehicles by Government will be reduced this year. The Ministry of Finance has allocated N$426.8 million to vehicle purchases in the 2016/17 National Budget, this is N$592.9m or 58.1% less than the N$1.019 billion what was spent on vehicles during the previous financial year. Further downside risks to this are rising interest rates which may limit marginal lenders from qualifying for financing as well as banking sector liquidity which may limit the amount of loans available to finance vehicle purchases.

A total of 1,350 new vehicles were sold during February, a drop of 2.8% from the January sales of 1,389 and down 30.7% over February 2015, driven by a slowdown in both passenger and commercial vehicle sales. At this point of the year, 2,739 vehicles have been sold so far in 2016, down 25.2% on the comparable period of 2015. This declining growth rate of new vehicle sales suggests that we may see another contraction in new vehicle sale this year, only to a much larger extent than the slight decrease seen in 2015.

Rolling 12 month sales continued to contract after turning negative in December for the first time in 69 months, with the year on year 12 month percentage change -8.9% for February.

Sales of passenger vehicles rose by 11.0% month on month, from 546 in January to 606 in February. On an annual basis, total sales of passenger vehicles fell by 26.2%. Commercial vehicle sales decreased 33.9% year on year to a sales figure of 744 vehicles, which was due to lower sales numbers of light and heavy commercial vehicles, slightly offset by an increase in sales of medium commercial vehicles. On a monthly basis, commercial vehicle sales was 11.7% lower than in January.

Toyota and Volkswagen continue to dominate the passenger vehicle segment with Volkswagen selling 180 (30%) vehicles and Toyota selling 113 (19%) of the 606 passenger vehicles sold. Toyota was however the market leader in light commercial vehicle sales, having the lion’s share at 41% of the market, followed by Nissan at 15% and Ford in third place with 14%. Commercial vehicle sales continue to come in higher than passenger vehicle sales as has been the long term trend.

 The Bottom Line

We have seen exceptionally strong vehicle sales growth through 2014 and 2015, fuelled by a strong consumer base supported by expansionary fiscal policy and real wage growth, but the latest figures show that this trend is losing momentum. Strong vehicle sales over the last two years have elevated the base substantially which has led to lower percentage growth figures, although the number of vehicles sold as a whole is still relatively strong. However, we expect to see a decrease in vehicle sales as purchase of vehicles by Government will be reduced this year. The Ministry of Finance has allocated N$426.8 million to vehicle purchases in the 2016/17 National Budget, this is N$592.9m or 58.1% less than the N$1.019 billion what was spent on vehicles during the previous financial year. Further downside risks to this are rising interest rates which may limit marginal lenders from qualifying for financing as well as banking sector liquidity which may limit the amount of loans available to finance vehicle purchases.

A total of 1,389 new vehicles were sold during January, a drop of 13.5% from the December sales of 1,583 and down 19.1% over January 2015, driven by a slowdown in both passenger and commercial vehicle sales. Rolling 12 month sales continued to contract after turning negative in December for the first time in 69 months, with the year on year 12 month percentage change -5.6% for January.

Sales of passenger vehicles fell by 11.1% month on month, from 614 in December to 546 in January, down from a high of 910 in March 2015. On an annual basis, total sales of passenger vehicles fell by 26.5%. Commercial vehicle sales decreased 13.4% year on year to a sales figure of 843 vehicles, which was due to lower sales numbers of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles. On a monthly basis, commercial vehicle sales was 13.0% lower than in December.

Toyota and Volkswagen continue to dominate the passenger vehicle segment with Volkswagen selling 152 (28%) vehicles and Toyota selling 141 (26%) of the 546 passenger vehicles sold. Toyota was however the market leader in light commercial vehicle sales, having the lion’s share at 51% of the market, followed by Nissan at 21% and Ford in third place with 10%. Commercial vehicle sales continue to come in higher than passenger vehicle sales as has been the long term trend.

The Bottom Line

We have seen exceptionally strong vehicle sales through 2014 and 2015, fueled by a strong consumer base supported by expansionary fiscal policy and real wage growth, but the latest figures show that this trend is losing momentum. Strong vehicle sales over the last two years have elevated the base substantially which has led to lower percentage growth figures, although the number of vehicles sold as a whole is still relatively strong. We expect to see vehicle sales normalising somewhat at these levels. Downside risks to this are rising interest rates which may limit marginal lenders from qualifying for financing as well as banking sector liquidity which may limit the amount of loans available to finance vehicle purchases.