JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's total new vehicle sales increased by 11 percent year-on-year to 43,790 units in December, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (NAAMSA) said on Tuesday.
The December vehicle numbers exclude data from Mercedes-Benz South Africa which has halted reporting sales and export figures after receiving a directive from German parent company Daimler.
"Despite the fact that detailed sales of Mercedes-Benz vehicles were not reported during December - new vehicle sales ended the year 2011 on a relatively buoyant note," NAAMSA said.
Factoring in a conservative estimate of Mercedes-Benz' figures for December, vehicle sales would have increased by about 14.5 percent year-on-year to around 45,200 units.
Industry sales for 2011 were up about 15.9 percent at an estimated 571,425 units compared to the number of vehicles sold in Africa's biggest economy the previous year.
Assuming economic growth of 3 percent and 3.5 percent for South Africa in 2012, vehicle sales were seen at around 611,500 this year, NAAMSA said, adding however that the next 12 months were likely to be challenging.
Copyright Reuters, 2012
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