Lesotho vehicles market stands as one of the smallest in the World, and is fueled by 99% with pre owned vehicles imported from South Africa and Japan. The new vehicles sales record scored in the 2014 before a decline of almost 30%.
Despite the country’s solid economic performance in recent years, economic growth remained non-inclusive. Consequently, a large population is still languishing in extreme poverty. Unemployment remains high at 24%, and the country’s Gini coefficient of 0.5 means that inequality is still a problem.
Based on the poverty headcount ratio at USD 1.25 a day, 56.2% of the population is still trapped in extreme poverty. Efforts to promote inclusive growth are constrained by the pressure of high HIV prevalence (22.9% of the total population) and the volatility of receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which finance 50% of the budget.
Nowadays, Lesotho stands as one of the poorest country in the World and the automotive sector as the development of infrastructures is not on top of the government priorities.
The automotive industry is fueled by imported vehicles, mainly from South Africa or Japan, with long age (over 15 years) and almost obsolete, unsafe and with high maintenance cost. New vehicles sales have not yet overcomes the level of 1.000 units in a calendar year, with a record of 934 units in the 2014, before a decline at 618 in the 2016.
Toyota dominates with 72.4% of market share, ahead of Nissan and Ford.
| Rank 2016 | Rank 2015 | BRAND | Sales 2016 | Sales 2015 | Variation 2016 | Share 2016 | Share 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Toyota | 441 | 524 | -15,8% | 71,4% | 72,4% |
| 2 | 2 | Ford | 67 | 66 | 1,5% | 10,8% | 9,1% |
| 3 | 3 | Nissan | 26 | 27 | -3,7% | 4,2% | 3,7% |
| 4 | 3 | Isuzu | 24 | 27 | -11,1% | 3,9% | 3,7% |
| 5 | 4 | Volkswagen | 18 | 19 | -5,3% | 2,9% | 2,6% |
| 6 | 5 | Mazda | 9 | 11 | -18,2% | 1,5% | 1,5% |
| 7 | 11 | Mercedes | 7 | - | #DIV/0! | 1,1% | 0,0% |
| 8 | 6 | Chevrolet | 6 | 10 | -40,0% | 1,0% | 1,4% |
| 9 | 8 | Jeep | 5 | 6 | -16,7% | 0,8% | 0,8% |
| 10 | 5 | Hyundai | 4 | 11 | -63,6% | 0,6% | 1,5% |
