You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW JEREMY MAGGS: New vehicle sales in South Africa plunging by just over 14% year-on-year in May. At the same time, the local automotive industry says grey or illegal second-hand vehicles are causing a real problem to the fiscus and a loss of around R4 billion in taxes. Mikel Mabasa heads Naamsa , it’s the industry body, he joins me now.
A lot of customers did not go out to visit our dealerships as hugely as we were anticipating and that’s why we’ve seen that very, very huge impact. MIKEL MABASA: Well, I think 2024 is definitely going to be a very difficult year. There’s no doubt about that. Already, five months into this year we’ve seen very, very subdued trading terms and consumer behaviour that suggests that the balance of this year is absolutely going to continue at a similar rate.
JEREMY MAGGS: There’s also been a substantial decrease in export sales. Are there specific factors or market dynamics that have played a role in this decline? Although Eskom is obviously doing everything they can, we’ve seen some improvement. But there have been some delays, particularly during the month of May, that saw a lot of vehicles not being able to be shipped out of the country. Remember, sequencing is absolutely very key. ADVERTISEMENT CONTINUE READING BELOW Read: SA will be a vehicle importer, not producer, in the ‘long term’