FORD SAYS: New vehicle sales enjoyed their third consecutive month of growth this year according to figures released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa).
The new vehicle market broke through the 40 000 units threshold to total 43 591 units in March. “The reassuring results indicate a positive ongoing trend to sales recovery, despite the March figures being buoyed by reasonably substantial rental sales ahead of the World Cup,” says vice president Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent. March sales grew 20.1% year on year, 10.9% ahead of February results.
Market growth was fairly evenly shared by passenger car and light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales. Passenger car sales rose 9.6% on February to 28 478, while LCVs increased 12.1% to 12 954 units. Their segment performances were up 21.9% and 14.5% respectively on the same period last year.
“While the figures look good, we should still be cautious about the road to recovery,” says Brent. “Comparing year on year sales still gives a false sense of security as they’re compared to depressed market conditions and comparisons should be considered pre-October 2008 to give real indications of incremental growth.”
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa (FMCSA) sales grew 5.2% during March over February with challenging supply constraints. The company’s passenger car sales slowed 3% on last month while their LCV sales swelled 13.9%. “The largest reason for the decline was the absence of any rental volume in March from Ford and the aforementioned supply constraints especially as relates to Fiesta. Fiesta still remains in the top three in its segment when it comes to dealer sales.”
Top performers for FMCSA remained the Fiesta (512) for Ford passenger car sales and Mazda3 (307), while Bantam lead their LCV onslaught with 756 sales during March.
“FMCSA is on track against its targets for 2010 in line with the 10%+ growth we forecast for the year,” says Brent. “The market is unlikely to continue such growth in the second half, post World Cup.”
Top 10 passenger car sellers for March 2010
1. Volkswagen Polo (2 367)
2. Toyota Corolla (1 667)
3. Mercedes-Benz C-Class (1 612)
4. Volkswagen Polo Vivo (1 374)
5. BMW 3 Series (1 366)
6. Toyota Fortuner (1 036)
7. Volkswagen Golf (564)
8. Ford Fiesta (512)
9. Renault Sandero (505)
10. Chevrolet Aveo (466)
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