New-vehicle sales fall 8.9% in January — but the year as a whole isn’t looking bad
January sales were down to 45,888 units, put down largely to ‘January uncertainty’, with Naamsa predicting moderate grown for the year
It’s not the way 2018 was supposed to start but despite an 8.9% drop in new-vehicle sales in January, motor industry analysts still believe the market will grow again for the year as a whole.Figures released on Thursday by the Department of Trade and Industry showed January sales of 45,888, down from 50,386 in the corresponding month of 2017. Car sales slumped 11.6%, from 36,908 to 32,642, while light commercial vehicles were down 2.1%, from 11,940 to 11,689. Trucks and buses also showed mostly negative movement.There were some solid reasons. Volkswagen SA was still building up production after its year-end switch to new Polo and Vivo models; and Chevrolet was no longer in the picture after General Motors’ disinvestment.The biggest ingredient, however, was traditional January uncertainty. A year earlier, the industry recorded its first year-on-year increase for 14 months. What marketers hoped would be the start of a trend became, instead, a sales roller coaster over the ensuing mont...
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