Johannesburg - The National Association of Automobile
Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) announced on Monday that Mercedes-Benz SA has
discontinued participation in the SA automotive industry's domestic new vehicle
sales and export statistics for the time being.
The withdrawal came as a result of a global directive by its
parent company Daimler in Germany. The pull-out came into effect in
mid-December 2011.
Naamsa understands that the global directive by Daimler is
precautionary in nature and is related to the European Union Competition
Commission investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by various
European truck manufacturers.
The association said the discontinuation of sales reporting
by Mercedes-Benz SA would hopefully be of a temporary nature and both the
company and Naamsa, including RGT Smart, are committed to working towards
resolving the situation as soon as possible.
RGT Smart is the third service provider in the collation of domestic new vehicle sales and exports.