Compared to the 905 new vehicles delivered in April, new car sales last month decreased from a rise to below their 6-month moving average of 767 units. Per an assessment by Simonis Storm Securities based on information from the NAA Manufacturers of South Africa, this reflects a decrease of 15,2% month over month, and the 790 vehicles sold in May 2021 indicate a decrease of 2.9% year over year.
The data shows that household payment and leasing credit expansion has been slow, averaging 1.2% per year and 0.9% over the previous 12 months. The share of cash transactions has increased compared to credit sales, according to reports from many local dealerships, which have noted an increment in banks' declining vehicle mortgage applications from their clientele.
Contrarily, corporates' use of payment and leasing credit climbed twice in March and April 2022, with yearly average monthly increases of 9.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. In May 2022, personal and light industrial vehicle sales accounted for 52.4 percent and 40.3 percent of all new auto sales. Sales of passenger cars climbed by 12.3% year over year, while those of light industrial vehicles fell by 16.7%, medium industrial vehicle sales fell by 40%, and heavy industrial vehicle sales fell by 33.3%. However, additional heavy industrial vehicle sales increased by 3% in May 2022.
"New car sales have been above the monthly norms of 810 and 550 seen in the same timeframe of 2021 and 2020, accordingly, averaging 863 vehicles per month this year. The monthly average pre-pandemic was 869 vehicles as recorded in 2019, and the year-to-date average is fairly similar to that figure," according to Simonis.
Global passenger vehicle output is still well below pre-pandemic thresholds. Although some automakers are worried about future customer demands in the face of rising interest rates and inflation, the IER Institute for Economic Research survey found that German automakers are self-assured they can transfer on rising commodity prices to consumers.
Wire harnesses, an inexpensive part that binds cables together, have a new scarcity that has been brewing on a worldwide scale. This low-margin, low-tech component is created from wire, rubber, and plastic, utilizing inexpensive physical labor, and Ukraine is a big supplier of it. Although wire harnesses don't get as much press coverage as chips, Simonis claims that cars cannot be manufactured without them.
According to analysts, as other auto companies have moved their harness manufacturing capacity from Ukraine to other developing nations, Namibia could have had the chance to produce the necessary wire harnesses by taking advantage of the nation's plentiful unskilled labor if it had the beneficial convenience of doing the business rating, fewer policy risks, and pro-business surroundings for foreign auto firms.
