1,716 new vehicles were sold during January, a drop of 6.3% from the December sales of 1,831, but an increase of 13.9% over January 2014. Passenger vehicle sales came in at 743, slightly below the average for 2014 of 803, nevertheless increasing modestly year on year. Commercial vehicle sales saw similar results, declining 3.5% month on month but increasing 20.3% year on year. Rolling 12 month sales once again reached record levels this month, with the year on year 12 month percentage change above 30% for the 11th consecutive month.
Toyota and Volkswagen continue to dominate the passenger vehicle segment with Toyota selling 274 (37%) vehicles and Volkswagen selling 146 (20%) of the 743 passenger vehicles sold. Toyota was also the market leader in light commercial vehicle sales, having the lion’s share at 52% of the market, followed by Nissan at 15% and Ford in third place with 11%. Commercial vehicle sales continue to come in higher than passenger vehicle sales as has been the long term trend.
The Bottom Line
The strong vehicle sales is attributed to a number of factors, namely the on-going expansive fiscal and monetary positions of the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Namibia, as well as purchase of vehicles by Government. The Ministry of Finance has allocated N$984.5m to vehicle purchases in the 2014/15 National Budget, a N$517.8m (111.0%) increase on the vehicle expenditure budget of the 2013/14 financial year. Government tenders yet to be delivered should maintain the momentum of vehicle sales through 2015. Strong economic growth and ever increasing private sector credit extension should bolster this trend in growth.