South African vehicle sales grew by an impressive +8.1% y/y in November, compared to +5.5% y/y in October. November’s reading marks the third consecutive monthly acceleration in sales and the highest reading since June 2023.

The jump in vehicle sales was driven by improved sales growth in passenger vehicles (+20.0% y/y in Nov from +14.5% y/y in Oct) and busses (+20.0% y/y in Nov vs +19.1% y/y in Oct). Encouragingly, passenger vehicles reported the highest number of unit sales since late 2019, with 35,101 units sold in November.

Furthermore, while heavy commercial vehicle sales slowed, they remained buoyant (+27.5% y/y in Nov from +34.6% y/y in Oct) as road freight remained an alternative to failing railway infrastructure.

Unfortunately, other commercial vehicle categories continued to contract, led by light commercial vehicles (-16.3% y/y in Nov).

Vehicle exports also continued to report disappointing results, with a decline of -28.6% y/y in November.