A total of 1094 new vehicles sold in August
Slow down
Toyota retained its lead in the new passenger vehicle sales segment.
A total of 1 094 new vehicles were sold in August, a decline of 13.2% month-on-month from the 1260 sold in July, but 4.0% more than the 1 052 sold in August 2022, according to IJG Securities.Year-to-date, 8794 new vehicles have been sold, of which 4299 were passenger vehicles, 3956 were light commercial vehicles, and 539 medium- and heavy commercial vehicles. In comparison, 6914 new vehicles were sold by August 2022. On a 12-month cumulative, a total of 12803 new vehicles were sold at the end of August, representing a 29.5% year-on-year increase from the 9 887 sold over the comparable period a year ago.
Looking at categories, 502 new passenger vehicles were sold during August, 136 fewer than in July, although it is worth noting that July’s new passenger sales figure was the highest since March 2017. 4 299 new passenger vehicles have been sold year-to-date, 20.4% more than at the same point last year. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, new passenger vehicle sales rose to 6303, up 24.8% year-on-year from the 5051 sold over the corresponding period a year ago. Thus, while new passenger vehicle sales dipped below the 2023 monthly average, the longer-term trends remain strongly positive, IJG pointed out.
New commercial vehicle sales totalled 592 in August, a decline of 4.8% month-on-month but 10.7% more than in August 2022, and above the 592-unit monthly average we have witnessed so far this year. Light commercial vehicle sales rose by 7.9% year-on-year, medium commercial fell by 22.2% year-on-year and heavy commercial vehicle sales rose by 49.0% year-on-year, with the latter logging the highest monthly sales figure since August 2018. On a twelve-month cumulative basis, light commercial vehicle sales are up 37.3% year-on-year, medium commercial vehicle sales are up 46.9% year-on-year and heavy commercial vehicle sales are up 7.0% over the corresponding period a year ago.
Market share
Toyota retained its lead in the new passenger vehicle sales segment, claiming 43.8% of the sales year-to-date, followed by Volkswagen with a 17.0% market share.
The two brands maintained their large gap over the rest of the market with Kia and Suzuki following with 8.9% and 4.6% of the market, respectively, leaving the remaining 25.7% of the market to other brands. Toyota also continued to lead the light commercial vehicle segment, claiming 55.3% of the sales year-to-date, followed by Ford with 12.9% of the market share and Isuzu with 7.0%. Mercedes retained the top spot in the medium commercial vehicle segment with 38.2% market share, and Scania continues to lead the heavy- and extra heavy commercial segment with 32.2% of the sales year-to-date, IJG added.
All in all, August was a somewhat weaker month for new vehicle sales as all categories, bar the heavy- and extra heavy commercial vehicle segment, recorded lower sales than in July. However, July was a particularly strong month for new vehicle sales, and the longer-term trends remain positive and are trending around levels last seen in 2017, IJG said.