< Back to Newsroom

Welcome to the May 2022 naamsa SA Auto Market Analysis bulletin publication, in partnership with ABSA Vehicle and Asset Finance. The South African Automotive Industry is one of the country’s largest manufacturing sectors and has played a significant role in developing the country’s industrial capacity.

Despite the KwaZulu-Natal floods fuelled supply chain disruption with the Durban ports, rail and road closure, Russia-Ukraine war financial & oil markets disruptions, SA fuel hikes, Eskom electricity shortages, and numerous public holidays, the April 2022 naamsa new vehicle sales release shows that the SA automotive sector held its own.

There has been a shift in the automotive industry in the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown restrictions that were implemented globally imposed shutdowns that impacted the automotive production sector. The plant shutdowns resulted in the shortage of key components in the assembly of vehicles such as semi-conductors and microchips.

In conclusion, there are some clear shifts in vehicle financing patterns and consumers have adjusted to the problems presented by the impacts of the pandemic in 2022. These includes a migration of some consumers from Europe/USA OEMs to Japan/South Korea OEMs for both used and new vehicles.