February last year was the last normalised sales month before lockdown regulations sent the motor industry spinning.
Back then, the market declined just 0,7% against 2019, a far cry from the 13,3% decline in sales experienced this February compared to it.
Relatively, that represents some form of stability this year compared to January’s decline of 13,9%.
According to The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, the market sold 37 521 units during the month.
“Interestingly, the correlation between market activity for WesBank between February 2020 and February 2021 is uncanny in its similarity,” said Lebo Gaoaketse, head of marketing at WesBank Vehicle and Asset Finance.
“Were it not for the seismic shift that came to bear in March last year, any market commentator would have been forgiven for ignoring its normality.”
WesBank made its highly anticipated market forecast for the year a few weeks ago, calling the market down 15,8% in normalised terms this year, representing a 12% growth compared to last year, off the back of the lack of sales during the initial lockdown and the slow recovery for the remainder of last year.
“These figures will begin to make more sense from March, but will equally present a skewed picture given the interrupted sales picture of last year,” said Gaoaketse.
Light commercial vehicle sales continued to keep the depressed market afloat. The segment’s 11 246 sales were 3,2% lower than February last year.
Even more reassuringly, dealer sales in this segment showed a 1,1% increase in activity, accounting for 10 080 of those sales.
Passenger cars by comparison declined 18,1% to 24 270 units.
While the rental market remained low, down 27,8%, the vast majority of its purchases were passenger cars: down 28,9% but with 3 498 units injected into the market volume.