Vehicle Sales Report, February 2023

Executive summary

• The market remains surprisingly resilient, continuing to outperform expectations in the face of myriad challenges that include rising interest rates, high fuel prices, and a generally weak economy
• New vehicle sales increased to 1103 vehicles in February 2023, up from 798 in January 2023. This equated to a 38.2% monthly increase. (figure 1)
• The 211-vehicle sales increase in commercial vehicle sales drove the month-on-month increase.
• An increase in new vehicle sales was primarily driven by strong market sales of commercial vehicles.
• A total of 1901 vehicles were sold during the first two months of 2023

Analysis

• On an annual basis, new vehicle sales increased by 24.9%, (figure 2). This could be attributed to increased consumer confidence in the face of a confluence of factors that influenced credit demand negatively.
• Light commercial vehicle sales increased by 65.3% on a monthly basis. This could be due to increased light business activity.
• Medium commercial vehicle sales grew to 25 in February 2023, up from 12 in January 2023. This could be influenced by an increase in construction and mining-related activities, as well as increased demand for raw material transportation.
• Passenger vehicle sales increased by 19.4% between January and February 2023 as a result of increased consumer sentiment. (table 1)

Table 1:

Figure 1: Monthly Vehicle Sales (January 2022 – January 2023), Namibia

Figure 2: Year on Year, Vehicle sales growth (February 2022- February 2023), Namibia

Outlook

We anticipate the new-vehicle sales market to continue its recovery as consumer confidence rises in the wake of slowly improving economic conditions. However, the stark reality of rising debt costs will continue to exert pressure on how well new vehicle sales will fare in 2023.