Team to assess auto sector support
Thu, 26 Feb 2009
A task team has been formed to study support measures for South Africa's automotive industry, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said on Wednesday.
This followed a meeting on Tuesday between the minister of trade and industry and the presidents of Naamsa and the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers (Naacam) in Pretoria.
"At the meeting there was an open exchange of information on the current state of the automotive industry (retail, auto parts manufacturing and vehicle manufacturing) in SA and the difficulties and challenges facing all businesses in the automotive value chain," Naamsa said in a statement.
A number of matters requiring urgent attention were identified and, to this end, a Department of Trade and Industry-Naamsa-Naacam task group was established to finalise specific proposals on possible support measures for the industry, the statement said.
The task group would finalise its work by 6 March and would report directly to the minister.
Last year's new vehicle sales plummeted to the lowest annual sales level since 2004 as South African consumers, hit by steep interest rates, reined in their spending.
Naamsa reported that aggregate sales fell by 123 757 units, or 20.3%, to 488 951 vehicles, compared with 612 708 units sold during 2007.
Sales of new vehicles not reported officially through Naamsa added 44 376 units to the 2008 figures, bringing the total 2008 aggregate of the new vehicle market to 533 327 vehicles.
This was a decline of 21.1% compared with total industry sales of 676 098 units in 2007, putting pressure on car dealerships and leading to a high number of closures.
Sapa
