Executive summary
- New vehicle sales declined to 952 vehicles for December 2022 from 1045 vehicles sold in November 2022. This translated into a monthly decline of 8.9%. See figure 1
- The decline in new vehicle sales was mainly driven by low sales of light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, and extra heavy commercial vehicles
- Medium commercial vehicle sales increased by 34.6% in relation to November 2022
- A total of 10925 vehicles were sold in 2022, an increase from 9414 vehicles sold in 2021
- Out of 10925 new vehicles sold for 2022, the highest number of vehicles sold were passenger vehicles followed by light commercial vehicles and the least were the buses representing 51%, 42%, and 0.2% respectively
Analysis
- On an annual basis, new vehicle sales increased by 33.9% (See figure 2). This could have been influenced by an increase in demand as consumer confidence improved significantly, augmented by job recovery and improved income levels that consequently resulted in a better credit score to purchase new vehicles
- Light, heavy, and extra heavy commercial vehicle sales declined by 16%,12%, and 3% respectively. This might have been a consequence of suppressed light commercial activities due to a mute in construction activities owing to the holiday season
Outlook
- Overall, the recovery of new vehicle sales in 2022 was remarkable against the backdrop of an interest rate hiking cycle, which increased the cost of borrowing
- We expect new vehicle sales for 2023 to remain on an upward trend
Figure 1: Monthly Vehicle Sales (December 2021 –December 2022), Namibia
Figure 2: Year on Year, Vehicle sales growth (December 2021- December 2022), Namibia
