The 60 percent increase in car sales in December, measured year-on-year, should not disguise the fact that there was a decline from November. However, the result for the first half of 2024-2025 has been quietly encouraging. Sales have gone up by 51 percent compared to the same period last year, which indicates that there is something of an economic recovery underway. However, car sales are not as important as generally thought, mainly because the components are only partially made at home, and vehicle makers are still basically assemblers. Increased car sales directly increases imports because of this, quite apart from the fact that more vehicles on the roads means greater consumption of fuel, mostly imported.
Among the reasons adduced for this improvement is not greater prosperity, but lower interest rates, which have put car finance within the reach of more people than before. Others include the introduction and models, as a result of more brands becoming available and running more aggressive marketing campaigns. There is also the factor of more urbanization, and an increase in the number of vehicles per family, not to forget the continuing rise in population. Electric vehicles have not yet become a factor, with only 41 units sold in December, down a third from the 62 units moved in November. The rise in locally made corresponds to the riding price of imported vehicles. Also, apart from price, manufacturers, especially new entrants to the market have installed many new features on locally made cars, features previously available only on imports. An imponderable is the fact that vehicles have become investments. This was only to be expected, considering that a vehicle is the biggest investment a family makes after a house.
The fact that many canny buyers postpone a vehicle purchase from December to January, so as to get the new year on the registration documents, means that the sales should grow in the new year. However, while car sales reflect the improvement in the economy, they do not drive it. The automotive industry could loom large on the landscape as the country grows, but that stage is far, far in the future. By that time, there will be no guarantee that vehicles will still be petrol-driven, or even that vehicle solarisation will not have made vehicles dependent on batteries being charged obsolete.
