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Pre-emptive buying to avoid the carbon dioxide emissions tax on new cars, which came into effect on Wednesday, and sales to the car rental industry drove new car sales last month to their highest level since January 2008.

New car sales rose 49.6 percent to 33 541 units last month from 22 413 units last August.

Tony Twine, a motor industry analyst and director of Econometrix, said the pre-buying had a major impact on new car sales and the impact probably stretched back to July.

Twine said year-to-date passenger car sales were 25 percent higher than the corresponding period last year but the annual growth of commercial vehicles was probably a more reliable indicator, as they were not touched by the pre-buying.

He said year-to-date light commercial vehicle sales were up 14 percent, which was very healthy indeed.

Econometrix expects new car sales’ monthly growth to drop to single digits for the remainder of the year and is now forecasting 270 000 new car sales this year, which is 20 percent growth on last year and much higher than expected at the beginning of the year.

Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses increased year-on-year last month by 8.8 percent to 10 856 units, medium commercial vehicles by 8.7 percent to 587 units and heavy trucks and buses by almost 48 percent to 1 393 units.

Andrew Kirby, the senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Toyota South Africa, said the 36.9 percent increase in total new vehicle sales last month surprised even the most optimistic analysts.

Kirby said dealership sales, a strong yardstick of private buyer activity, represented more than 80 percent of all new vehicles sales while sales to rental companies – at 5 388 units – far exceeded expectations for this time of year, especially taking into account many purchases were brought forward for the World Cup.

He said it appeared both private buyers and rental companies advanced purchases in anticipation of the introduction of the vehicle emissions tax.

Sydney Soundy, the managing director of Absa Vehicle and Asset Finance, said the average financed value per vehicle increased last month to about R207 000, which was about 28 percent higher than the same time last year.

He said this resulted from a combination of reasons, including vehicle price inflation, smaller deposits paid on financed deals, and customers opting for longer contract periods to improve affordability.

Chris de Kock, the executive head of sales and marketing at WesBank, said the lender had seen quite a strong increase in dealer-driven promotional activity since the middle of July to alert customers to the impending carbon tax and incentivising them to bring their purchasing decisions forward.

De Kock said WesBank had received more than 4 400 applications a selling day last month, which was 26 percent more than in August last year.

Brand Pretorius, the chief executive of McCarthy, said the improvement of almost 50 percent in car sales was surprising as a number of popular models were in short supply because of the eight-day strike at local vehicle manufacturers.

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Posted on September 8, 2010 · in Global