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Drastic increases in ongoing load shedding, a 75-basis point rise in the interest rate with another increase predicted in November, ongoing high fuel costs, and now problems with Transnet, total new vehicle sales figures for September continued to run ahead of sales in 2021. The rise in sales was encouraging considering they were achieved in tough trading conditions due to a variety of factors on top of load shedding and the interest rate hike. These included an ongoing stock supply shortage and a stock mix that is not ideal.
The growing local interest in New Energy Vehicles (NEVs), including the increasing number of fully electric models that are coming to market is an interesting trend to follow. Customers are eager to learn more about these vehicles before making purchasing decisions, and while we anticipate a relatively slow transition from Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), more and more electric offerings from a variety of brands are entering the market.
By now you will have received the schedule of Annual General Meeting dates for the NADA NEC and the NADA Regional Meetings please look out for the invitations which should arrive in your inboxes during the next few days. We encourage each member on the NADA NEC to attend their respective NADA Regional meeting and the NADA NEC on 8 November 2022.
We wish you all the best for the final quarter of 2022. Despite difficult operating conditions, you, our valued members have shown sheer grit, focus and resilience over the past nine months, performing better than anticipated in the face of continued disruptions to the market.
Best wishes
Gary McCraw
National Director
NADA
NADA quick guide to the coming Financial Intelligence Centre Act & related laws
South Africa was subject to a country assessment by a joint IMF, Eastern and Southern African Anti Money Laundering Group and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment team that assessed South Africa’s anti money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing controls and enforcement as well as the supervisory and regulatory systems in place.
Based on the above, South Africa is required to provide the FATF with a series of reports, the first of which is being presented this month.
Automotive Retail Financial Performance Trends – December 2020 to July 2022
The global business outlook has a recessionary undertone with mounting evidence of slower economic growth in all major economies. The causes for this trend continue to be the supply chain disruptions, the Russia/Ukraine conflict, related sanctions against Russia, its reactions to these and China’s stringent covid health management constraints on their economy.
South Africa is a small open economy which will continue to feel the effects of the recessionary developments with its major global trading partners. As with central banks across the world, the SA Reserve Bank will take actions through higher interest rates, to mitigate the effect of inflation. Sustained load shedding will continue to hamper growth and consumer confidence.
Opportunity for resilient motor vehicle market in South Africa
New vehicle sales are steadily climbing as South Africa shrugs off the lingering effects of Covid-19, a world-wide semi-conductor shortage and supply chain delays. In the latest issue of Auto Insights, Lightstone takes a look at growing new vehicle sales in a tough environment and the country’s changing buying habits. The data shows that Sedan sales have fallen to a third of what they were a decade ago.
Cars.co.za dealer marketing insights for 2022
Presentations made to – and discussions held at the recent NADA DPP conference in Nelspruit confirmed a number of developments we’d begun to observe in our industry. The used vehicle bubble we’ve been experiencing (which was driven primarily by the limited availability and higher pricing of new stock) has burst. Robust sales numbers, good margins and strong consumer demand led to many dealers having record months. But what now?
Allen Joss Ford Gives Back For Five Decades And Counting
The Kruger National Park is an inspiring part of the country that strongly defines the African landscape, its diversity, and its people. The two-million hectares of bushveld spanning the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces is home to some of the largest game reserves in Africa, with sightings of the big five as well as a variety of bird life always on offer.
It’s sometimes easy to take such an excursion for granted, but these characteristics take on a more profound meaning when they’re used as a backdrop for team building and mentorship for underprivileged and handicapped children. For the last 52 years Allen Joss Ford, with the help of the dealership’s team who give up their free time, have been putting together trips to the Kruger for children who have physical, mental, or other conditions that require 24-hour care and supervision.
Hybrid and Electric vehicle sales top 1% for the first time
Both hybrid (HEV) and battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales have soared in the first eight months to end August 2022, pushing market share to 1.1% of total new passenger vehicle sales – the first time it has been above 1% in the January to August window.
Drivers of this surge in sales include a greater variety of vehicles available from manufacturers, growing consumer awareness of the environmental and other benefits of driving hybrid and electric vehicles, along with elevated petrol and diesel prices.
Bye bye printed guidelines. Hello a new world of mobility
October 2022 marks the end of an era for South Africa’s automotive industry – and the start of an even more exciting one. After 62 years, the TransUnion Auto Dealers’ Guide, previously known as the Mead & McGrouther Auto Dealers’ Guide, will only be available digitally – and the possibilities this change unlocks are immense.
For a start, it means dealers, insurers and banks can get specific, real-time data on vehicles, enabling them to value vehicles more accurately in real time. However, the digitisation of the guides is only part of a far bigger picture: the real story here is the rapid digital transformation of the industry. As we gear up for the world of future mobility, the use of data-driven digital products and solutions is changing practically every aspect of the automotive value chain for everyone, from manufacturers to dealers to consumers.
As TransUnion, we’re not a code and vehicle valuation supplier. We’re the digital data engine behind all future decisions that our clients might need to make, from the top of the funnel, throughout the qualification and identity checks journey. That’s the step-change we’re talking about.
Here’s why it’s important. Right now, the automotive industry is being disrupted by four mega trends: connected vehicles, autonomous vehicles, shared mobility, and electrification. Each one of these trends is driven by technology – and together, they will fundamentally change the way we manufacture, sell and use vehicles in the future. What does that tell us? Old-school business models just won’t cut it anymore.
Let’s start with the way customers buy cars. In the old way, customers did some homework beforehand (or not). They walked around the dealership floor. The dealer assessed their current vehicle. They sat with the F&I manager, who entered data manually. They filled out application forms and submitted supporting documents. All FICA checks were manual, with physical copies of driver’s license, ID and proof of residence being submitted. The F&I manager received offers from various finance houses. Haggling took place. Once an offer was accepted, more paperwork. Enough already!
Digital Onboarding for Auto has taken much of the pain out of this process. Digital Onboarding for Auto allows vehicle dealers to access robust fraud and credit risk solutions through a secure platform, and is a turnkey solution that can be added to as and when they want to scale.
This alleviates the burden of sourcing different vendors, strengthens Know Your Customer (KYC) and enables personalised experiences. In fact, most leading banks in South Africa now recognise TransUnion’s Digital Onboarding for Auto as a valid eKYC service.
The magic of Digital Onboarding for Auto is that it helps dealers use data-driven tactics at every point in the customer journey to speed the process and make it far more customer-centric. It verifies documents, reduces friction, and enhances fraud protections while establishing consumer identities and confidently authenticating good customers. It’s a game-changer.
And it’s only the first step towards a world of future mobility offerings that solve the real problems facing South African consumers. We don’t have a vehicle ownership problem, we have a mobility problem. Mobility ranges from ownership of a vehicle to usership, and everything in between – including subscription-based ownership, vehicle on demand, rental, peer-to-peer, car sharing, ride hailing, ride sharing, demand-responsive transport and public transport.
Currently, South Africa has around 12 million vehicles on our roads. Of those, only around 2.4 million are financed, and around three million are insured. TransUnion’s data suggests that less than 15% of vehicle finance applications get approved, for various reasons. Annually, there are around 24 million leads being generated – but dealers only sell around 580,000 new vehicles, of which 180,000 are new vehicles and 400,000 used.
This tells us is that there are plenty of people who are interested in buying a car, but they can’t be converted into closing the deal through a traditional credit application. At the same time, there is a captive market that requires mobility, but cannot be accommodated.
In other words, the challenge facing the entire industry is to create solutions that provide mobility for our clients beyond car ownership, and to find ways of using alternative data to allow more people to qualify for credit to buy or lease vehicles.
And that’s why we’re not just the auto guide guys, or your partner for vehicle finance. We’re the data and insights engine driving the future of mobility in our industry, and greater financial inclusion for all South Africans. That’s the real promise of digitisation – and we should all be leaping at the opportunity.
