New vehicle sales got of to a slow start in South Africa for 2021. In January, the National Assosication of Automobile Manufactuers of South Africa released the sales report on Monday and the numbers will low. There had been a 14% decrease of new vehicle sales in comparsion to rates in 2020. There had also been a decline in the export of vehicles down 8% from 2020 again. However, as of Monday exporting has begun to gain traction and is now ahead of track by 3,000 units when compared to the same time in the previous year.
I believe that this information really is not relevant in the big scheme of things because I see that they are mostly manufacturing combustion engine vehicles. While this is good for their economy and they are easy to make, it fails to innovate and move the world forward. There aren’t enough states emphasizing the importance of innovating and moving the world forward. Without innovation, we will continue to face and deal with the same problems we always have. So while the numbers may seem interesting, they are missing the big picture on whats actually importnat.
In class, we discussed the importance of a states location, and how much affect that has on that state. In South Africa, we see that because of its location it is able to manufacture and deliver cars across the world. This may not be the case for a country in the middle east that wouldn’t have access to the same kind of resources as South Africa. It is interesting to see just really how much a location can influence a states economy and purpose.