New car sales on the rise in July

“Increased pressure on personal disposable income, high fuel prices and the stringent provisions regarding the granting of credit continue to take their toll on sales figures, however to a lesser extent than we witnessed last month when the National Credit Act came into effect,” said Jacques Brent, Vice President Sales and Marketing, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa

Ford Motor Company sold a total of 6,037 vehicles during the month of July. Of these 2,976 were passenger cars and 3,061 were commercial vehicles. The Ford Fiesta remained the top selling passenger car for Ford with 828 units sold. The newly launched Ford Ranger this month topped Ford's commercial vehicles sales with 1,277 units with the normal front runner Bantam close behind with 1,274 units sold.

“The Ford Ranger this month over took the Ford Bantam in the sales charts with the newly launched Ranger being well received in the market. The first Mazda BT-50's went on sale this month with the previous model Mazda Drifter on runout. From next month we expect the BT-50 will also have a greater impact on sales figures,” Brent said.

Volkswagen of South Africa Sales and Marketing Director Mike Glendinning said VW had sold 8,323 units in July. The company once again secured the title of passenger market leader for the month, and strengthened its overall passenger market leadership position year to date.

“An outstanding performer for the Volkswagen Brand was the Polo/Classic range with sales of 3,415 units. Golf and Jetta also showed strong results with combined sales of 1,156 units.

“The Audi Brand strengthened its presence in the premium segment with sales of 1,010 units.

“The popularity of the SEAT Ibiza is also on the increase with sales of 117 units achieved last month,” Glendinning added.

He said interest rates, sharp increases in new car prices, high levels of household debt, the difficult launch of the ENatis system, countrywide labour unrest and strikes, and the introduction of the National Credit Act all contributed to the drop in sales.

“The remaining months of 2007 could well see a continued slowing and it is now certain that the size of the market in 2007 will fall short of the market recorded in 2006 by probably some seven to 10%,” he concluded.