The National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa has released new vehicle sales statistics for the month of May which show strong gains compared to the corresponding month last year.
Aggregate Industry sales improved by 8,604 units or 20.7% to 50,229 vehicles from 41, 625 units in May last year.
Its also substantially above the growth rate in Industry total sales of 9.4% for the first five months of the year.
Naamsa added that new car sales during May 2012 had been surprisingly strong - and at 34,820 units reflected an improvement of 5,999 units on the number of new cars sold in May of last year.
New car sales during May, 2012 recorded the highest daily selling rate since June, 2007.
Meanwhile, Ford Motor Company South Africa says May sales were up 10.4%.
Vice president sales and marketing, Dean Stonelay, says industry growth in May was the highest this year.
Speaking at a breakfast briefing in Port Elizabeth on Monday morning, Stonelay said government purchases and rental companies drove much of the growth in the month.
However, he said the underlying retail business remains strong.
Looking at the rest of the year, Stonelay says Ford remains positive about the prospects of the South African market.
