SOUTH AFRICA · ECONOMIC DATA
Key Facts
- What is happening October new vehicle sales are due Monday at 12:15 UTC (7:15 a.m. ET); no figure was out yet.
- Why it matters Sales are a live gauge of South African consumer and business demand as interest rates rise.
- The numbers September sales reached 61,645 units, up 12.7% on a year earlier; October 2025 was 55,956.
- Who is who The Automotive Business Council (naamsa) counts sales for 42 vehicle makers, assemblers and importers each month.
- What to watch Whether October sales top September’s 61,645 and whether car rental firms keep buying before the holidays.
- What it means for you Firm sales point to resilient demand; US exposure runs through car exports and the rand, not domestic sales.
South Africa’s car industry publishes its October sales count on Monday. September sales were 61,645 new vehicles, up 12.7% from a year earlier.
South Africa publishes its October new vehicle sales on Monday 2 November 2026 at 12:15 UTC (7:15 a.m. ET). The figure was not available when this article was written.
September’s count was 61,645 vehicles, up 12.7% from a year earlier. The count is a monthly gauge of how South Africans cope with higher interest rates, and it matters to US investors.
What Is Due and When
The Automotive Business Council, known as naamsa, publishes the count at 12:15 UTC, which is 14:15 in Pretoria. It speaks for 42 companies that make, assemble, distribute and import new vehicles.
The headline number is total domestic sales of cars, bakkies (the local word for pickup trucks), minibuses, trucks and buses. A second reading, called vehicle sales, shows the change from a year earlier in percent.
Exports are counted separately and are not part of the domestic total. In September, domestic sales were 61,645 units and exports were 31,473 units.
What Last Month and Last Year Show
September’s 61,645 units are the latest base for this release. A year earlier, in October 2025, the market sold 55,956 units.
The council said September sales rose 12.7% from a year earlier. Passenger cars rose 14.7% to 44,291 units, and light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses rose 9.6% to 14,361 units.
Exports fell 18.8% to 31,473 units in September. For the first nine months of 2026, domestic sales reached 492,201 units, up 12.5% from a year earlier.
Why Sales Have Held Up
naamsa credits more brands, a wider range of prices and attractive finance offers for sustaining demand. Its chief executive, Dr Mncane Mthunzi, called the September result remarkably resilient.
That strength came despite higher borrowing costs. The council said the South African Reserve Bank, the central bank, raised its main interest rate to 7.25% in September.
The prime rate, which banks charge their best customers, rose to 10.75%, the council said. Annual consumer price inflation, the rise in living costs, edged up to 4.4% in August from 4.3% in July.
October 2025 is a high bar. Domestic sales that month were 55,956 units, the highest monthly total since March 2015, and rental firms took 16.6% of them.
In September 2026 the rental industry took 13.8% of sales. Rental restocking before the holiday season is one way October could beat September.
The Trend This Year
Absa, a South African bank, compiles a monthly factory survey, the Purchasing Managers’ Index, which rose 4.9 points to 50.7 in September. A reading above 50 signals growth, and the index had spent three months below it.
The council said the PMI and car sales together point to underlying activity stronger than inflation and energy costs alone would suggest. It added that it is too early to call a lasting manufacturing recovery.
What It Means for US Readers
US investors should read this figure as a gauge of South African demand, not of trade with America. The release does not split exports by destination.
The United States charges a 25% duty on imported passenger vehicles under Section 232, a national-security trade law, since 3 April 2025. South African makers shipping cars to the US face that duty unless a trade deal lowers it.
The car industry is large for South Africa: naamsa puts it at 5.2% of GDP and 15.6% of total exports. Vehicle and component exports reached a record R291 billion (about US$17.4 billion at today’s rate) in 2025.
Mining-linked US-listed funds move more on metals prices and the rand than on car sales. A strong sales figure would still point to resilient household spending, which helps South African banks and retailers.
Related coverage includes last month’s sales report and an earlier report on US tariffs and car exports. More reports sit on the South Africa page.
What Would Change the Picture
A further rise in interest rates or fuel prices would squeeze buyers and could slow sales in coming months. The central bank already raised its repo rate in September.
Weaker rental demand would also pull the total down, because rental firms buy in large batches. A change in US duties would hit exports first, and the domestic count only indirectly.
What Is Not Known
The October figure, its split between cars and commercial vehicles, the rental share and exports are not known until publication. No forecast for the October count is confirmed at a second source, so none is given here.
The release does not show how many South African-built cars went to the United States last month. The data does not show how US duties or the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a US trade programme, apply.
What Comes Next
The count appears at 12:15 UTC on Monday, and the figures here are the September base. A figure above 61,645 would be a monthly gain, and one below it a fall.
The November count is due in early December. A single month does not set a trend, and sales are only one part of the economy.
Frequently Asked Questions
When are South Africa’s October vehicle sales published?
naamsa, the Automotive Business Council, publishes them on Monday 2 November 2026 at 12:15 UTC, which is 7:15 a.m. ET. The number was not out when this was written.
What is the baseline for October?
September’s 61,645 vehicles are the latest figure. October 2025 saw 55,956, the highest monthly total since March 2015.
How did South African car sales do in September?
Sales rose 12.7% from a year earlier to 61,645 units. Passenger cars rose 14.7% and light commercial vehicles rose 9.6%.
Why should US readers care about South African car sales?
The count shows how South African households and firms are coping with higher interest rates. It also sits beside car exports, which US duties affect.
Sources: naamsa, September 2026 New Vehicle Sales Media Release; naamsa, Flash Report September 2026; naamsa, October 2025 New Vehicle Sales Media Release; US Federal Register, Proclamation 10908, Adjusting Imports of Automobiles (conversion at 16.69 rand per US$, rate of 2 November 2026; all accessed 2 November 2026).
Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error