UAE auto sales grow, but at slower pace in H1

The financial crisis has failed to put breaks on the growth of the UAE and the Gulf automobile markets as they registered eight and 12 per cent, respectively, increase in sales in the first half of 2010, but slower than the previous years.

The UAE automobile distributors sold 111,649 vehicles in the first half of 2010 against 103,209 units for the same period last year on improved customer sentiment and recovery in financial crisis.

Michel Ayat, chief executive officer of Arabian Automobiles, said: “UAE vehicle market has grown by eight per cent which is in line with our forecast of 5-10 per cent growth shared at the beginning of the year. While the tough year of 2009 is past us, the after effects of the recession still linger on. Customer confidence is slowly coming back, financial institutions are opening up and government initiatives are helping in supporting the growth in local and regional economy.”

Ayat believes that the overall growth will be slow and the market will continue to experience a single digit growth through 2010.

The luxury automobile market in the UAE remained flat in sales in the first half due to losses in the sport utility vehicles (SUVs) segment. The SUV segment lost four per cent which primarily comes from drop in sales of luxury crossover models. The luxury large SUVs grew by 40 per cent during the same period.

The UAE auto distributors recorded 2.2 per cent increase in luxury vehicles to 14,645 units in the first half of this year. The luxury segment makes up 15 per cent of the total automobile market. SUV segment makes up around 47 per cent of luxury vehicle sales, followed by PC at 40 per cent and sports at 12 per cent.

In the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), auto sales increased 12 per cent to 597,078 units in H1 2010 against 533,288 for the corresponding period last year. The luxury vehicle sales in the GCC increased 12.5 per cent to 42,771 units in H1 2010 against 38,035 for the same period last year. Luxury segment contributed 7.7 per cent of the total vehicle sales in the Gulf region.

Despite a drop of four per cent, the UAE maintained its leadership status in the luxury segment in the Gulf with 34 per cent share, followed by Saudi Arabia (23 per cent), Kuwait (18 per cent) and Oman 12 per cent.

Arabian Automobiles Co. is the distributor of Nissan, Infiniti and Renault in Dubai and Northern Emirates and a non-exclusive distributor of Nissan in Iraq.

Ayat said Arabia Automobiles sales jumped 20 per cent to 12,341 units in first half from 10,327 units for the same period last year, beating the overall market growth. He was speaking at the launch of 2011 Infiniti QX flagship SUV. He also confirmed that a new showroom dedicated to the Infiniti brand is now under construction on Sheikh Zayed Road.

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