Gauteng, South Africa -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/01/2013 -- WesBank – South Africa’s leading asset-based financial solutions provider comments on the recent increase in demand for new vehicles as indicated by the figures released in October by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA).
Demand for new vehicle sales in South Africa continues to surprise on the upside, regaining momentum in October after retracting in September, according to figures released today by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa (NAAMSA) that showed a 4.73% increase in total industry vehicles sales from last month.
Chris De Kock, Executive Head of Sales and Marketing at WesBank, South Africa’s leading asset-based financial solutions provider, says the results were partly influenced by the fact that October had three extra working days. “Market activity for new vehicle sales was relatively subdued for the previous two months due to fewer trading days, so some of this demand simply carried through to October.
“However, there is clearly still plenty of demand among consumers for new vehicle sales as a result of the conducive buying environment, with low inflation on new vehicles and interest rates also at a 40-year low. In addition to this the threat of increasing vehicle prices caused by a weakening Rand has had the effect of pulling forward sales into October. This is demonstrated by WesBank book data, which recorded a record number of applications during the last month to 120 171, easily above the year-to-date monthly average of 101 352,” said De Kock.
“The new vehicle market is continuing to benefit from the migration of customers away from the used market; however, there is evidence that the used market is re-pricing and is starting to once again become attractive for customers seeking value.
“Year-to-date the market is 10.5% up on 2011 and above our expectations. It is going to be interesting to see how the last two months of the year perform, given the obvious financial pressures negatively impacting on consumers and the continued volatile global economic environment,” concludes De Kock.
About Wesbank
WesBank has over 40 years of experience in asset and vehicle finance. As a leading asset-based finance provider in South Africa, we finance new and used vehicles for personal use, both privately and through dealerships, as well as leisure vehicles, and also offer expert advice and professional service to our clients.
Our other main focus is providing quality asset finance and fleet management solutions for a number of market sectors. WesBank’s asset finance services cover aviation finance, agri finance, commercial vehicle finance, company vehicles, plant equipment, office equipment, public sector finance and franchise finance. In addition, we offer personal insurance, vehicle insurance, personal loans as well as business insurance, and we are perfectly placed to structure a finance deal to suit your needs.
WesBank is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, which in turn, is part of the FirstRand Group. FirstRand is South Africa's most innovative Bank Assurance Group with interests in Retail and Merchant Banking, Life Assurance, Financial Planning and Medical Schemes.