Marcia Mayaba is the new vice-chair of Nada. Picture: SUPPLIED
In this edition of Business Day Spotlight, we’re looking at the health and state of the vehicle retail market. Marcia Mayaba, CEO of motor retail at industrial company, Barloworld,Mayaba was recently appointed to her role at Barloworld, as well as becoming vice-president of the National Automobile Dealers Association.
Mayaba details her 23-year career to get to this point, her vision for the future and plans for getting more women into leadership positions in the industry. On vehicle sales, Mayaba says the sector is starting to recover, though still lagging by about 30% on sales in the previous year. Despite the economic devastation of Covid-19, she says consumers — who make up roughly 50% of all vehicles sold in the country — still have an appetite to buy cars.
Because of strained consumer wallets, Mayaba says there’s been a rise in used vehicles, though she questions the sustainability of this segment. She also discusses other trends regarding vehicle sales in SA, the health of consumers in the local market, reasons for the rise in second-hand motor sales, the move to online retail for dealerships, leadership in the industry and an outlook for the sector.