Motor trade sales rose by 1.3 percent year-on-year in March while sales for the corresponding month in 2007 increased 16.8 percent, data from Statistics SA showed on Thursday.

Sales for the March quarter increased by 4.7 percent compared with the same time last year. This is substantially lower than the 16.8 percent increase reported for the three months to March 2007 compared with the three months to March 2006.

The 4.7 percent increase for the March 2008 quarter compared with the March 2007 quarter was positively influenced by high fuel sales, which contributed 4.9 percentage points.

Seasonally adjusted motor trade sales for the March quarter increased 2.9 percent compared with the fourth quarter of 2007.

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