New vehicle sales figures for November indicate that hopes of an improving market are still some way off for the car market, as they don’t continue the positive trend shown over the last two consecutive months.

Total market sales for November dropped to 34,295. November new registrations were down 6,7% on the same period last year. Year-to-date sales indicate a 27,1% decline, the market reaching 364,812 new vehicles sales compared to the 500,562 recorded to November last year.

Compared to last month, the light commercial vehicle segment was the only one to show any form of resilience with just 30 sales less than October. However, LCV sales dropped from November 2008, a trend strongly opposed to the gain in sales by passenger cars over the same period. Passenger car sales did, however, slump compared to October 2009.

“The industry should become wary of comparing year on year sales,” warns Vice President Sales, Marketing and Service, Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa, Jacques Brent. “Taken out of context, year on year sales look quite promising, in particular the 4,4% gains shown by the passenger car marketing during November. However, by November 2008, the SA car market was already in its significant downward spiral and the indicated changes year on year are therefore already off a low base.”

Medium, Heavy, and Extra Heavy commercial vehicles, as well as buses, showed some sustainability at current levels, but remain substantially lower than this time last year.