Rental industry, Mercedes C-class push new car sales ahead by 17%

By Roy Cokayne

Pretoria – Sales of new cars last month recovered from four poor months: sales notched 37 719 units, a 17 percent increase on sales in July.

Last month’s sales figures were only 3.8 percent lower than last August’s record sales of 39 203 units.

However, Tony Twine, a motor industry analyst, stressed that these figures did not indicate a revival in consumer spending.

Twine said the apparent revival in car sales came from the impact of rental industry purchases in the entry level segment and increased sales in the premium market because of the launch of the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class. More…