New vehicle sales will hit a ceiling in 2015

Cape Town – New vehicle sales will hit a ceiling in South Africa, with y/o/y growth of only 0.87% expected in 2015, according to WesBank’s forecast for the performance of the motor industry in 2015.

“Growth of passenger car sales seems to have hit a sort of artificial ceiling,” said Simphiwe Nghona, executive head of WesBank’s motor division. “Any increase from current levels will only be possible in an environment where the GDP of the country expands at much higher levels.”

Sales in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment are expected to see the highest growth, at 3%, as the consumers substitute passenger cars with LCVs and businesses replace their fleets. Medium and heavy commercial vehicles sales – although a smaller contributor – should improve marginally, at 1.1%.