New vehicle sales for July remained "disappointingly weak", the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA (Naamsa) said on Tuesday.

July's data showed further sharp declines compared to the corresponding month last year, Naamsa said in a statement.

New vehicle sales for July came in at 30 731 units reflecting a decline of 11 606 vehicles or 27.4 percent compared to the 42 337 units sold during the same month last year.

Factoring in aggregate vehicle sales reported by the AMH Group, the year-on-year decline amounted to 25.9 percent, Naamsa said.

Of the sales of 30 731 vehicles, 76.2 percent or 23 430 units represented dealer/retail sales, 14.7 percent sales to the car rental industry, 5.1 percent sales to government and 4.0 percent sales into auto industry corporate fleets, Naamsa said.

In the passenger vehicle sector, Naamsa reported new car sales at 18 818 units reflecting a decline of 7181 units or 27.6 percent compared to the 25 999 new cars sold during July 2008.

Factoring in aggregate new car sales reported by the AMH Group, the year-on-year decline amounted to 7380 units or a fall of 25.1 percent.

Naamsa said sales of new light commercial vehicles, bakkies and minibuses at 10 179 units during July 2009 reflected a decline of 2952 vehicles or 22.5 percent compared to the 13 131 units of the corresponding month last year.

Taking into account the light commercial vehicle sales reported by the AMH Group, the year-on-year decline amounted to 3191 units or 23.0 percent.

Naamsa said sales of vehicles in the medium and heavy truck segments of the industry ? with the exception of the bus sector ? also remained weak.

Medium trucks had sales of 558 units for July 2009 ? a decline of 478 units or 46.1 percent compared to the corresponding month last year.

Heavy and extra heavy trucks sold 1176 units ? a decline of 995 units or 45.8 percent compared to the corresponding month last year.

In sharp contrast, sales of new buses at 263 units had shown a record year-on-year improvement of 124 units or 89.2 percent compared to the 139 reported sales in July last year.

"Weakness in medium and heavy truck sales reflected lower investment spending as well as difficulties experienced by truck operators in accessing loan finance," Naamsa said.

It said that with seven months of the year accounted for, aggregate industry new vehicle sales at 224 706 units reflected a decline of 32.7 percent compared to the 334 003 vehicles sold during the corresponding seven months of last year.

On the export front, sharply lower levels of demand in South Africa's major export markets had led to a huge decline in the number of vehicles exported during July 2009.

Aggregate export sales at 11 220 vehicles registered a decline of 17 044 vehicles or a fall of 60.3 percent compared to the 28 264 vehicles exported during July last year.

"The trading environment during July 2009 remained fundamentally weak with all sectors of the South African automotive industry continuing to experience severe sustainability challenges.

"Improvement in the automotive industry's domestic operating environment would depend on a revival in consumer spending on the back of lower interest rates as well as on stimulatory government expenditure," Naamsa said.

It added that improvement in vehicle exports would depend on a global recovery and a return of confidence in international financial markets.

"Despite tentative signs that the slump in global economic activity is bottoming out, concerns about a second half domestic economic recovery continue ? with good reason," Naamsa said.

Most economic indicators reflected an economy under pressure and in recession with declines in wholesale and retail spending, industrial production and construction activity, Naamsa said.

Moreover, it said the employment picture remained bleak.

"In the circumstances and given the latest dismal new vehicle sales figures, a further relaxation in monetary policy appears justified ? particularly in light of recent declines in consumer and production price inflation."