New vehicle sales fell for the third consecutive month in February, but the quantum of the drop was relatively smaller than in previous months, suggesting that the bottom of the downward cycle could be in sight. Sales of new domestic vehicles dropped by an annual rate of 3.8% to 46,347 units in February, boding ill for companies such as Bidvest and Imperial, which have exposure to car dealership businesses. New passenger car sales declined just 0.4% to 31,200 units, faring better than the commercial vehicle segments, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said in a statement on Thursday. Domestic sales of new light commercial vehicles — bakkies and mini-buses — declined 9.6% to 13,212. Medium commercial vehicles dropped 13.4% to 574 units and heavy trucks and buses 14.6% to 1,361. Overall, of the total sales of 46,347 vehicles, an estimated 84% represented dealer sales, 9.7% sales to the vehicle rental industry, 3.7% to industry corporate fleets and 2.6%...
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