New vehicle sales started the year on a strong note, with 20.3 percent more being sold compared to January last year, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said on Thursday.

Naamsa said January 2006's new car sales were the highest monthly total for January on record.

From a seasonal perspective, January was an increasingly strong sales month as buyers sought to benefit from the new year's model registration date and the associated higher resale value of vehicles, Naamsa said.

Compared to December 2005, aggregate sales figures had risen by 6.7 percent.

Overall, South Africa's new vehicle market had maintained its impressive growth momentum of recent months and sales in all segments had registered strong gains compared to the same month last year, it said.

January 2006 new car sales at 34 278 units reflected a gain of 18.6 percent compared to the 28 910 new cars sold in January last year.

Sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 12 651 units during January 2006 was an improvement of 23.8 percent compared to the 10 216 units sales last year.

Naamsa said supported by positive investment sentiment, sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry had also started the year on a high note.

The January 2006 sales at 857 units (medium trucks) and 1069 units (heavy trucks) had recorded an improvement of 16.4 percent, in the case of medium commercials, and 40.3 percent in the case of heavy trucks and buses.

Aggregate industry vehicle exports during 2005 had improved by 29 405 vehicles or 26.6 percent compared to the 110 507 vehicles exported in 2004.

It said in revenue terms, vehicle exports during 2005 would have approximated R20-billion.

"As existing and new export programmes gained momentum, exports of South African produced motor vehicles were projected to grow significantly during 2006 rising to over 200 000 vehicles for the year," Naamsa said.

Sapa

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