Nada appeals for government to reduce taxes on sale of vehicles

The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (Nada) has appealed for the government to reduce the taxes on the sale of vehicles.

Nada says the negative financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the loss of sales in the automotive industry.

Nada Chairperson Mark Dommisse says a tax reduction could help the industry sell more vehicles

Dommisse says, “Since the pandemic has hit us and the lockdown and the economy taking a hit, the level of car sales has reduced. Towards the end of last year, it was up to 10 000 cars a month. Unfortunately it is a hell of a lot of money, a billion rand in taxes, going into the fiscus for the government which we sorely need. The programme to sell more cars is about generating taxes and the economy as well.”

Impact of COVID-19 on the automotive sector:

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Automotive sector among hardest hit by COVID-19 lockdown

South Africa’s automotive sector was among those hardest-hit by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.

The five-week production halt during the hard lockdown had a major impact on business and the economy of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (NMB), Eastern Cape – the home to some of the biggest car manufacturers in the country.

Normally, busy production lines stood still for weeks on end in Port Elizabeth.

Something no one in this industry had ever experienced, according to CEO of Isuzu South Africa, Billy Tom, who said this was a year like no other.

Tom said, “We couldn’t sell a product and the revenue line came to a standstill. We did not generate any revenue during that period but there were people working from home, those not involved in production those that do the office work. So they were doing work behind the scenes but from a sales point of view it meant we weren’t generating any funds which is something unheard of in the history of our business.”

Greyhound reaches end of the road

Long-distance luxury passenger bus carrier, Greyhound which has been in operation for 37 years, announced the closure of its operations.

The company sent out a statement via its social media platforms, saying that February 14, 2021 will be its last day of operation.

The statement read, “Services have been discontinued effective 14 February 2021…we would like to thank you for your support over the last 37 years.”

Announcement: Greyhound and Citiliner are closing operations. Services will run until 14 February 2021. Passengers with tickets booked for services after this date will be refunded. For assistance with refunds, contact Call Centre: 087 352 0352 or email: [email protected]. pic.twitter.com/n6kFJ0uQaO

— Greyhound (@GreyhoundRSA) February 3, 2021

People react to the news

Some users on social media have expressed sadness to the news. A Twitter user, EveLumicee says “ This is so sad, I used to enjoy the business class.”

Another fellow commuter, Mzwanele Nkunzi tweeted,“Used to enjoy the luxury section upstairs, ….long distance travels will never be the same again.”

The company announced the news at 1pm on Tuesday, bringing an end to a business that ran for almost four decades.