Ghana 2020. Auto sales fall 17.4% while Nissan’s leadership is challenged by Toyota

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Ghana car market
The 2021 Ford Ranger Tremor

Ghana vehicles market falls due to the global pandemic affecting sales. Indeed, Full Year 2020 sales are 4.710, down 17.4% compared to 2019. Nissan leads the market, following by Toyota which gains market share.

Economic Environment

The economic slump should have eased in Q3 after the economy suffered its first contraction in four years in Q2. Data suggests the downturn bottomed out in May: In July, the latest month for which the index is available, economic activity expanded for the second month in a row.

Moreover, private sector business conditions improved in August–September. Turning to Q4, the private sector PMI rose to an over two-year high in October. While this bodes well for the economy in the final stretch of the year, prospects are somewhat gloomy nonetheless, as the global rise in new Covid-19 cases will likely weigh on external trade, oil prices, and tourism.

Meanwhile, the country is gearing up for the 7 December general election, which has been accompanied by spates of violence. The likely outcome is still too close to call, with the management of Covid-19 and corruption likely to be decisive factors.

Market Trend

The Ghana vehicle market has been affected in 2020 by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted sales significantly. 

Ghanian vehicles market fell down to 5.347 units in 2015 – after hitting 11.788 sales in 2013 – due to the effects of the economic recession. However, the market registered a robust recovery in the following years, when in 2017 sales ended with registrations at 9.150. In 2018, the market was hit by another strong sales decline (-21.4%) selling 7.193 units.

In 2019, light vehicle sales kept crumbling. Indeed, the Full-year ended with 5.702 registrations, down 20.8% from the previous year.

Full-Year sales for 2020 have been 4.710, reporting a 17.4% decrease compared to 2019.

Brand-wise, this year the leader Nissan (-14%) gained 1% market share, followed very closely by Toyota (-8.1%), which gained 2.3% share. Mitsubishi (-22.6%) was in the third position and lost 0.6% market share.

The most sold model in the country remains the Nissan Hardbody with 397 sales (-10.6%), holding 8.4% market share.