SALES GROWTH
Motor industry edges towards recovery
Year-on-year sales improved for the sixth month in a row
SA’s motor industry may finally be climbing out of a new-vehicle sales slump lasting nearly four years but it will take only one piece of bad news to set the market back on its heels, analysts said at the weekend. Figures released on Friday by the Department of Trade and Industry showed that in November year-on-year sales improved for the sixth month in a row. The industry sold 49,754 new vehicles, 7.2% more than the 46,397 of November 2016. Cars were up 16.4%, from 28,207 to 32,821. Aggregate vehicle sales for the first 11 months of 2017 rose 2.2%, from 505,903 to 516,954. Cars grew 2.6%, to 341,521. The market has improved steadily since May, after it had been devastated by plunging business and consumer confidence caused by political turmoil and the economy’s relegation to junk status by ratings agencies. At that stage, all forecasts were for the 2017 market to continue the steady decline that began in 2014. Now, WesBank analyst Rudolf Mahoney said the market was "edging towards ...
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