The South African truck market has improved its performance by 5.3% for August to conclude the month on 2 227 units.

This is according to the latest results released by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa), Associated Motor Holdings (AMH) and Amalgamated Automobile Distributors (AAD).

During this period, Medium Commercial Vehicle (MCV) sales increased by 5.9% to 633 units, Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) sales were slightly down by 0.7% to 427 units and Extra Heavy Commercial Vehicles (EHCV) up by 7.3% to 1 046 units.  Bus sales also continued its upward trend with a 9% improvement on July’s sales to 121 units.

Encouraging results

The overall picture is also looking more positive with year-to-date sales tracking only 2.9% behind 2016’s sales in the corresponding period, with a total of 17 075 new trucks sold by the end of August.

“These results are encouraging and in line with our expectation that some industry sectors are recovering,” said Gert Swanepoel, managing director of UD Trucks Southern Africa.  “It has also become evident that business continues to show resilience in the face of some of the bigger macroeconomic challenges that are prevailing.”

Swanepoel explained that the company believes many businesses still have long-term confidence in the country, which bodes well for new truck sales during the balance of the year, and for some growth going forward.

“An investment in a new truck is a serious consideration, as it takes a significant amount of money, time and other resources to run a fleet efficiently and profitably.  This past month’s positive results show us that fleet owners still consider the transport and related industries as relatively sure investments,” said Swanepoel.