The African Association of Automotive Manufacturers (AAAM) has disclosed new vehicle sales volumes collated by the Africa Automotive Data Network for Africa, (AADN), recorded a 32 percent growth in 2021, following a 28 percent decline in 2020.
It was noted that new car sales in Africa have begun to rebound, with 1,131,249 new vehicles sold in 2021, compared to 856,133 in 2020. While the increase is encouraging, it still falls short of the 2019 volumes that had 1,150,842 units. Sales climbed by 15 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa but were down by 10 percent compared to the 2019 volumes.
These figures show total industry sales as reported by manufacturers across markets. The quantities omit Heavy Commercial Vehicles, which are not recorded but estimated by AADN to be less than 5,000 units per year for Sub-Saharan Africa exclusively, where Nigeria is included.
In 2021, 548,504 new vehicles were sold in North Africa, 499,087 new vehicles were sold in the Southern African Customs Union, and the remaining 83,658 new vehicles were sold in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.
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“The improved new vehicle sales volumes in 2021 are encouraging and show that the markets are recovering, as life on the continent and many other places in the world is slowly normalizing after the COVID pandemic,” said Dave Coffey, CEO of AAAM, commented on the new vehicle sales. “We believe that this positive trend will continue into 2022 with the reported quarter 1 sales for 2022 some 9 percent up over 2021 and growth will start to accelerate as more countries in Africa embrace the industrialization and growth opportunity presented by the continental automotive strategy which could see new vehicle sales reaching 5 million units per year by 2035.”
According to Fitch’s solution study, a credit intelligence company, in a Sub-Saharan Africa Autos report, car sales in the Sub-Saharan Africa region are expected to rise by 5.6 percent in 2022. It predicted a 6.3 percent increase in passenger vehicle sales and a 3.7 percent increase in commercial vehicle sales. Increased commodity prices, according to the report, offer some upside risk for Sub-Saharan African commercial vehicle sales forecasts, as an investment in the industry will drive up demand for commercial vehicles for construction, company operations, and logistics networks.
