Naamsa | The Automotive Business Council has issued a significant correction to South Africa’s 2024 new-vehicle export data “following a comprehensive data verification exercise” which showed that around 82 500 units went unreported.
Data released early last month showed that total new-vehicle exports from South Africa were down 22.8% in 2024 compared with 2023, at 308 380 units.
However, this has now been updated to a 2.2% drop, with new figures indicating that 390 845 new vehicles were exported from South Africa last year.
The discrepancy was almost entirely the result of an in-house error at Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA), which saw the Kariega-based manufacturer misreport a significant portion of its vehicle exports by vehicle identification number from March to December last year.
This has since been corrected, with a double verification process now in place, says VWGA spokesperson Andile Dlamini.
The 73-year-old VWGA plant last year celebrated a production record of 167 084 vehicles, with 131 485 units of this number –Polos – exported to more than 30 global markets.
Naamsa CEO Mikel Mabasa says the auto-sector body collaborates extensively with data specialist Lightstone Auto at the beginning of every year to conduct a thorough data accuracy exercise.
“I’m confident that our internal data verification systems are robust, which allowed us to identify and rectify this error promptly.” 