Vehicle sales statistics released by NAAMSA show a levelling of sales through March. Total vehicle sales were 36 331 units including sales by AMH. Passenger vehicles accounted for 23 363 of those sales, light commercials 11 315, medium commercials 672, and heavy trucks and buses 1 006 units. March numbers reflect a slight improvement over January and February but are still down by 30% on March 2008.

“March was the third month in a row where we saw a relatively constant sales pattern, albeit in a market that is 30% down on the same month in 2008 and 34% year to date,” says Johan van Zyl, President and CEO of Toyota South Africa. “If this trend towards stability continues it will offer some respite for the industry as it will then be unlikely that we will see further cuts in production as we start to build on a new low volume base.

“The significant downward pressure on interest rates is acting to boost confidence. Typically any notable change in buying patterns lags behind interest rate cuts by as much as 18 months, so welcome as they are, lower interest rates will not provide a quick fix for durable goods sales. Continued interest rate reductions will however provide a degree relief that will allow people to start planning for new purchases some time down the road.

“Right now vehicle sales are being constrained to quite a large degree by the finance houses as they act aggressively to consolidate their positions. We are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of declined applications for finance, many of which would have been approved as a matter of course just months ago. This clearing of this bottleneck will be fundamental to an improvement in vehicle sales.”

Toyota continued its market leadership with a 26,3% share of the market. Export sales of 8 457 units secured 47% of all exports.

Combined domestic and export sales by Toyota were 33% of the industry total.

Toyota vehicles held the top three positions in the overall sales log with the Hilux the top selling vehicle for the month with 2 500 deliveries. The Corolla range was second with 2 070 sales, and the Yaris third with 1 747 units for the month.