Motoring

The car brands SA government blew millions on in 2016

Staff Writer

 ·12 Aug 2016

It seems not everyone got Treasury’s memo to curb wasteful expenditure, as luxury motor brands including Infiniti, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are still on government’s shopping list in 2016.

Using data supplied by Naamsa (National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa), Wheels24 published a list of vehicles purchased by government in the first half of 2016.

The vehicles are separated into passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV), while the models of vehicle purchased were not supplied by Naamsa.

Naamsa told Wheels24 that the recorded sales are “confined to sales made against an official Government purchase order, and to vehicles which will bear a Government, Provincial or other special number.”

The government bought 5,775 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles between January and June 2016. Of these, 3,369 of these were LCVs and 2,406 passenger cars.

This included 136 BMWs, the third most passenger cars behind Toyota and Volkswagen. Also on the list were expensive German brands Audi (25), and Mercedes (3). The government also acquired three Lexus models, four Jeeps, and an Infiniti.

In 2015, Naamsa noted that a total of 26,822 vehicles were purchased including one Jaguar Land Rover, 153 BMWs, and seven Mercedes Benz vehicles.

In a Parliamentary reply published in May, it was revealed that the South African Police Service had spent R8.6 million buying luxury cars for president Jacob Zuma’s wives between 2013, 2014 and 2016.

These included four Range Rovers, two Land Rover Discoveries, two Audi Q7s and three Audi A6s.

Government passenger cars from January – June 2016:

Government LCV purchases – January – June 2016:

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