By: Dwight Links
The month of May delivered a measured pullback in Namibia’s vehicle market, with total unit sales at 1,171, representing a contraction of 11.3% from April’s 1,320 units.
The figures come from an analysis done by Simonis Storm.
Associate economist Almandro Jansen noted that the contraction still displayed a silver lining on the year-on-year performance for unit sales.
“May 2026 still performed better and maintained the advance to 14.8% year-on-year from the 1,020 units in May 2025. The result was the strongest May display since 2016 and comfortably above the 951 unit trailing five-year mean for the month,” Jansen explained on the performance of the month.
This means that the month itself had plateaued before 2026 to just above the 900 unit mark, with this year breaking through this barrier but still dipping below the April 2026 mark.
According to the data in the report, April was coming down from March 2026’s own strong sales figures, where 1 662 units were sold.
“The pullback[decline] from April was expected and constructive. April itself was recovering from the exceptional March numbers, and May’s data reflects the natural settling of that sequence rather than any deterioration in the underlying demand impulse,” the report describes.
According to the cumulative sales data of vehicles in Namibia, the first five months of the year had shown strong sales figures, with the average itself being high.
“The first five months of 2026 closed at 6,326 units, more than 22% ahead of the 5,181 units recorded for the same period of 2025 and the strongest year-to-date showing since 2018,” the report adds.
Jansen says the aggregated picture speaks to the scenario of improved cyclical activity in the vehicle sales market.
“Cumulatively, it shows that the profile has a cleaner signal of cycle quality, and it continues to improve materially month by month,” he added.
According to the report, the commercial categories have not changed much in their make-up, but rather that they display resilient numbers for May.
The Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment delivered 583 units, with a 4.1% increase above the corresponding May 2025 period.
The passenger segment saw 493 units being sold, which is a decline from April 2026, but still higher than May 2025. The decline from April was 11.7%.
Out of the LCV brands that were best performers, Toyota’s Hilux model accounted for 387 units.
“This alone was maintaining a commanding grip on the category. The Ford Ranger contributed a consistent 61 units, JAC recorded 26 units as it continued its share build, and Volkswagen’s Amarok delivered 33 units in a step-up from April’s 22 units,” the report indicates.
Simonis Storm assessment indicates that there are other factors to consider in the sale of these units, such as the interest rate decisions during the course of the year that will influence consumer appetite.
“The Bank of Namibia has held the repo rate at 6.50% and with the war-related oil shock feeding inflationary pressures through to transport and food costs,” the firm points out.
The Bank of Namibia increased the rate on 17 June by 25 basis points to a rate of 6.75%.
