It is never easy to write a first article for the New Year. You hinge between reviewing the past year and predicting what the new year might have in store.

For this article, I have opted for both – considering last year’s trends in the global markets and predicting the impact it would have on our local market.

The biggest global change in the motor industry last year was the move away from ownership to the use of “pay as you go transport” or shared ownership. Companies like Uber have filled this gap and even penetrated the daily car rental market.

Consumers today use their cars as all-purpose vehicles, whether they are commuting to work on their own or taking the whole family to the beach. In the future, they may want the flexibility to choose the best solution for a specific purpose, on demand and via their smartphones.

We already see early signs that the importance of private-car ownership is declining: in the United States, for example, the share of young people (16 to 24 years) who hold a driver’s license dropped from 76 percent in 2000 to 71 percent in 2013, while there has been more than 30 percent annual growth in car-sharing members in North America and Germany over the last five years.

A detailed analysis suggests that dense areas with a large, established vehicle base are fertile ground for these new mobility services and many cities and suburbs of Europe and North America fit this profile. New mobility services may result in a decline of private-vehicle sales, but this decline is likely to be offset by increased sales in shared vehicles that need to be replaced more often due to higher utilisation and related wear and tear.

To me it makes perfect sense for someone to consider alternate transport for his/her daily commute to work and back, especially if your R500, 000 vehicle is parked in a “pay-per-day” parking area for eight hours of the day. In megacities, such as London, car ownership is already becoming a burden for many, due to congestion fees, a lack of parking, traffic jams, etc.

In South Africa, there is a shift to multimodal transport solutions, but this shift is taking place at a slow pace due to significant challenges faced in implementing large-scale and integrated public-transport solutions at city level. The question that comes to mind is: “Are our Banks gearing themselves for this changing world and are our salespeople ready for the challenges that these changes will bring about in the selling process?”

May we all have an exciting and prosperous 2017.

We share the best used car sales for December 2016.

The top 5 used passenger vehicle sales per manufacturer

FORD
VOLKSWAGEN
TOYOTA
BMW
CHEVROLET

The top three used commercial used vehicle sales per manufacturer

RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U D/C
RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U SUP/CAB
UTILITY 1.4 A/C P/U S/C

Top 10 derivatives used car sales

RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U D/C
POLO GP 1.2 TSI COMFORTLINE (66KW)
POLO 1.4 COMFORTLINE 5DR
FIGO 1.4 AMBIENTE
RANGER 2.2TDCI XL P/U SUP/CAB
UTILITY 1.4 A/C P/U S/C
POLO GP 1.2 TSI TRENDLINE (66KW)
POLO VIVO 1.4 TRENDLINE
ECOSPORT 1.5TIVCT AMBIENTE
RANGER 2.2TDCI XL A/T P/U D/C

The average age of used vehicles sold in December was 4.81 years.