New motor vehicle sales plummet by 98%
New vehicle sales plummeted by 98% year-on-year in April as dealerships were forced to close their doors due to the coronavirus crisis.
The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (Naamsa) confirmed the devastating numbers on Monday.
Naamsa CEO Michael Mabasa says only 574 vehicles were sold in April.
“This year we were only able to sell 574 cars during the month of April, while last year we were able to sell 36 787 vehicles.
“It is a huge, massive drop and the small vehicles we were able to sell were those orders we received in March but were processed in April.”
The 35-day hard lockdown has come to end, with some industries like mining, manufacturing, agriculture and retail stores able to resume operations.
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Automotive factories are also allowed to reopen under the new level 4 lockdown restrictions, but motor dealers are still unsure under what conditions they are allowed to sell cars.
The lockdown has caused enormous damage to the economy, with economist warning of a raft of retrenchments.
But Mabasa doesn’t believe there will be anyone losing their jobs in the sector just yet.
“Fortunately, the automotive industry has not at this time retrenched any employees and it’s not our intention to do so, at least not in the immediate future.
“Remember the country is now at level number four so our industry is one of those that could get back to work.
“We are not anticipating any job losses and our companies have firmly taken a decision that they would not be retrenching any workers as a result of the hard lockdown we had for 35 days.”