This is according to consumer credit report agency TransUnion, whose local arm released its latest quarterly Vehicle Pricing Index recently.
“With negative sentiment on the rise, the auto industry hasn’t been able to recoup sales lost in April and auto dealers are facing a difficult 2020 — as higher prices and growing financial strain take their toll on consumers,” the report said. A separate Financial Hardship study by TransUnion showed that consumers had expected to be more than R7,000 short on their budgets every month. More are opting to purchase used vehicles, while increasing activity was noted in the sub-R200,000 price region. We reached out to Kriben Reddy, head of auto information solutions at the company, for additional insight.
Reddy was unable to forecast how long it would take before the new vehicle market achieves the levels of performance it saw before lockdown.