After a flood there is always a high water mark, the mark which signifies how bad things got at their very worst point. Europe might just have reached theirs. The sales data from April shows Europe’s free-falling car market could just be bottoming out. While South Africa’s car market continues its steady rise on the back of more selling days and a higher selling rate per day.
After stringing together months of consecutive sales declines, several European markets showed signs of life in April. New car deliveries improved by 11% in the once-dormant Spain and in Germany, Europe’s single largest market, sales increased by 4%. It’s not a lot but it’s a push in the right direction.
South Africa’s 58 vehicle brands sold a combined 50 920 units in April. According to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) sales decreased by 17.5% over March 2013, but it increased by 19.5% over the same month in 2012.
New car sales figures in France fell by 5% during April, which may not sound great but when you compare it to the country’s 16% decline in April of 2012, it is at least an improvement. “It isn’t growth, but this could mark the beginning of a long-awaited stabilisation,” a VDIK spokesman said.
In South Africa, an increase in daily sales acts as evidence of the high level of marketing activity, with many new model launches and continued replacement demand amongst private buyers. “Even when one combines the two months the trend is very positive when compared to the same period in 2012. Not only did the industry have more days in April to sell, but they also sold more cars per day, increasing their daily sales rate from 1 937 units per day in April 2012 to 2 122 units,” a Naamsa spokesman said.
Toyota retained its overall market lead for the year to date after selling 9 896 cars in April, while the Hilux is South Africa’s most popular car with local sales of 3 227 units. The Volkswagen Group South Africa strengthens its leadership position in the South African car passenger market in April 2013 with the total sales of 8 463 units and a market share of 24.6%. The Volkswagen Polo Vivo was the most popular passenger car in South Africa.
