20120111
AFP
New vehicle sales in South Africa grew almost 16 percent in 2011, but exports fell short of expectations, the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (NAAMSA) said Tuesday.

South Africa's economy has been bouncing back, albeit slowly, from a 2009 recession, registering 1.4 percent growth in the third quarter of 2011.

Last year's 571,425 new vehicle sales were a 15.9 percent rise from 2010, though they fell short of the record of 714,315 set in 2006.

Sales for 2011 came to 160 billion rand ($20 billion, 15 billion euros).

The figure reflects both locally manufactured and foreign vehicles.

Some 272,000 South African-made cars were also exported, though that fell short of the expected 300,000, NAAMSA said. But the group said it hopes to see an 18.5 percent rise in exports in 2012, driven by rising demand elsewhere in Africa.

South Africa produced some 540,000 new vehicles last year. President Jacob Zuma, battling to lower a 25 percent unemployment rate, met with industry leaders in September and set a goal of 1.2 million vehicles a year by 2020.