Nissan discontinued the NP 200 model late last year for whatever reasons they had and this model was favored by many courier companies. Without those sales they lost their niche and are competing directly with the Chinese for their other brands and all I can say is good luck and lets see how that ends up.
Another legacy auto brand is finding things very tough and is downsizing their staff portfolio by 20 000 employees and shutting down 7 assembly plants world wide. The article I was reading suggested that SA's assembly plant in Johannesburg could be on the chopping board and I can almost guarantee it is. This will lose result in roughly 1600 jobs being lost and is inevitable this is where the local car assembly industry is heading.
Last month Nissan managed to sell 694 vehicles which is keeping track with their 65% month on month decline. That declining rate will see them in double digits before the end of this year. Their top selling NP200 model is no longer being produced and the new model which will replace this is destined for another assembly plant elsewhere. Just to give you an idea how bad these sales figures are Jetour which is some what of an unknown Chinese auto brand sold 574 vehicles and is expected to overtake Nissan this month. Jetour launched in South Africa back in September of 2024 and have only been active in the market for less than 9 months so this does not bode well for the local auto manufacturers.
There is no point having an assembly plant based in a country where one days work would suffice the needs of the country and the remainder of vehicles would be for export. One would expect the opposite with the bulk for the local market and a small percentage for export.
I would not call Suzuki a legacy auto brand as they were known more for their motor cycles and they have shot up into second spot within a very short period of time mainly down to affordability. Toyota is leading the way out front which is mainly down to their passenger vehicles (taxis), but they are also on a downward trend with a reported 11% decline month on month. Just wait for their taxi type vehicles to be targeted by the Chinese and their monthly sales figures will be reduced very quickly.
Hyundai is fairing better than most with a decline of 3% month on month and compare that to Isuzu who is on 49% decline month on month. That is quite astonishing as they are losing half their sales volume each month. The Volkswagen range which includes Volkswagen and Audi models are dipping at a rate of 19% year on year which at least this figure is not monthly. Ford is dropping by a rate of 17.5% monthly and it will not be long before they cannot justify having an assembly plant in SA either.
This you cannot blame on tariffs as this has been ongoing for a few years and is not just happening and a new phenomena. The Chinese auto brands are decimating the local market through price and service and warranty plans that no one can compete against.
Job losses will be off the charts and the finger can be firmly pointed at the government for not protecting the local auto industry. The legacy auto brands should also take the blame for not protecting their client base as loyalty only carries so much weight when facing cheaper competition that has more built in tech features. You would like to think these legacy auto brands would have built a giant war kitty for times like today and they obviously do not have this in place and are to blame for their own demise. What happened to common sense and working ahead of market trends?
There is no good news when you look at these figures and over the next couple of months I will most likely be looking for a cheap run around again. I sold my car back in 2021 as I hardly used it and now I kind of need another vehicle. I will not be buying a Chinese variant and will be looking at a repossessed known brand that is not on the hijacking list. Yes you have to be careful here which model you buy as some are more in demand than others by the hijacking syndicates. With the economy being so bad I should be able to pick up something really good for less than 40% of the retail price and when the time comes to sell I should be able to get close to what this cost back.
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