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The South African truck market has kicked off the second half of 2007 with a continuation of the record-breaking form that it had exhibited at the end of the first six months of the current year.
The total volume of 3 485 units reported to the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) during July, propelled the market to its third consecutive all-time monthly record sales volume, exceeding the previous benchmark of 3 332 units, set one month earlier in June 2007, by a margin of 4.6%.
Sales in the Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) segment increased by 23.2% when compared to July 2006's performance, recording 1 405 sales. The Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) segment, increased sales by 15.1% to 762 units, recording its strongest monthly performance since the turn of the century. The 1 210 units sold in the Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicle (EHCV) segment set a new all-time record during July and it was also a 18.7% increase on sales recorded during the same month last year. Bus sales increased by 16.1% to 108 units.
"Selling conditions for trucks, vans and buses continued to be favourable during July, with a considerable level of fixed investment-related activity evident in the local economy, and the market result reflects this situation," says Rory Schulz, vice president of operations at Nissan Diesel South Africa.
Schulz points out that the 16% month-on-month growth recorded by the HCV segment is highly significant, especially when viewed against the comparatively small expansion in EHCV volumes from June to July.
"This suggests that some of the projects in the construction sector are moving beyond basic earthworks and the erection of structures to the finishing-off phase, necessitating the delivery of materials such as plaster, timber, glass and paint on these highly versatile HCV category trucks," says Schulz. "The strong MCV performance also suggests that consumer activity in the country is still substantial and this would also tend to have a positive influence on HCV sales."
Looking ahead, economists' consensus opinion has now shifted slightly more in favour of an increase in interest rates by 50 basis points after the August meeting of the government's Monetary Policy Committee, and some upward pressure on pricing may be forthcoming as a result of the Rand softening in foreign exchange terms against key truck-sourcing currencies such as the Euro.
Schulz, however, believes that neither of these two factors is likely to derail the market from its present path of sustained growth, and the potential remains in place for more record sales months as the year unfolds.
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