THE car industry is bursting with joy following the increase in the number of new cars sold in April compared to the same month last year.
According to figures released by naamsa, 47,979 new cars were purchased. This is the largest number for April since 2013.
We have increased by 5,512 compared to 42,467 sold in April last year.
While the number of cars sold in the country increased, those sold abroad decreased by 4.0% to 30,939 from 32,229 in April last year.
Naamsa said the figures for April show the momentum that started in the previous months and the improvement in purchasing conditions, but all this has been faced with the problems of the increase in the price of petrol, expected inflation as well as the revision of interest rates on loans.
An economist at WesBank, Thanda Sithole, said the April results are encouraging.
“This increase in numbers was widespread because it happened in small cars, vans and goods transport as well as big trucks,” said Sithole.
The Chairman of the National Automobile Dealers’ Association (NADA), Brandonn Cohen, welcomed the statistics and said it was a month full of holidays and unrest in the Middle East.
“It was believed that all this as well as the increase in the price of petrol will reduce the enthusiasm of people in the market. It did not happen. Small vehicles were 34,414 which is an increase of 14.3% compared to the same period last year when light commercial vehicles increased by 9.7% compared to April 2025. It is also interesting that there has also been an increase in medium and large trucks as medium vehicles have increased by 10.5% and trucks and buses have increased by 9.9%”