Africa-Press – Namibia. A TOTAL of 714 new vehicles were sold in Namibia during the month of October 2021, compared to 767 sold in the prior month and 561 sold a year ago.
This is according to figures Simonis Storm Securities obtained from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers South Africa and released on Friday.
“Vehicle sales increased by 27,3% y/y and decreased by 6,9% m/m in October 2021,” said Simonis. A total of 7 935 vehicles have been sold year-to-date in Namibia, of which the top five brands accounted for 71,5% (5 673 vehicles).
Year-to-date, Toyota (37%), Volkswagen (15%), Ford (7%), Nissan (7%) and KIA (5%) continue to dominate the local vehicle market in terms of market share.
The annual increase was mainly driven by increased purchases of passenger and light commercial vehicles, accounting for 49,9% and 41,3% of sales during October.
“During October, extra-heavy commercial vehicles saw the largest annual increase in vehicle sales rising by 75,0% y/y from 20 to 35 units,” said Simonis Storm.
The report added that sales of light commercial vehicles rose by 35,9% y/y from 217 to 295 units, while passenger vehicles rose 19,5% y/y from 298 to 356 units and medium commercial vehicles rose by 22,2% y/y from 18 to 22 units.
Local dealerships indicated that vehicle sales would be significantly higher if only stock was available. The non-availability of stock and delayed delivery times for imported vehicles could potentially also weigh on instalment credit uptake by both individual and corporate customers.
According to Simonis, Toyota – Japan’s biggest carmaker – has cut global production for November by as much as 15% (between 100 000 and 150 000 cars), with company representatives blaming the ongoing global shortage of microchips used in the production of vehicles.
Toyota cut production in September and October as well. “Component shortages resulted from Covid-19 infections among factory staff and lockdown-related restrictions in Malaysia and Vietnam, which lowered their production.”
“In our report last month, we mentioned that Toyota Namibia has seen an increase in its backlog from 300 to 350 vehicles. In other words, customers who have paid deposits are still waiting for their new cars to be delivered in Namibia since early this year,” said Simonis Storm.
In 2021, Volkswagen celebrates 70 years of production in South Africa, where the first vehicle to roll off the Uitenhage production line was a Beetle in 1951.
“Similar, to other brands globally, the manufacturing plant in Uitenhage is experiencing a production backlog, implicating our local dealerships in Namibia,” said Simonis.
Imports of Volkswagen models are delayed due to the shortage of cargo ships and containers, leading to local dealerships taking a cutback on their allocated orders. Market expectations are that constrained supply of new vehicles will remain unchanged until mid-next year.
Dealerships with a short supply of most model ranges for both passenger and commercial ranges have lost a market share, as some impatient customers take what is available elsewhere instead of waiting for imports to arrive. In terms of pricing, Volkswagen has seen price increases every three months of between 1,5% and 2% on average in Namibia during 2021.
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