Car sales declined by about 9% in October 2015 compared to the same month in 2014, while sales of the first 10 months of 2015 registered a decline of about 1.6% compared to the same period last year.
According to a report by the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC), sales in the car market declined in October to 23,700 cars, compared to 26,100 cars sold in October 2014, recording a 9% decline.
Sales of private cars also decreased by about 12% during the same period, registering total sales of 17,200 cars compared to 19,600 cars in the same period in 2014. Sales of buses declined as well by 0.5% recording 2,550 units, compared to 2,560.
AMIC estimated the sales of trucks at about 3,880 trucks compared to 3,890 in October 2014, with a growth rate of 0.4%. It estimated the sales of cars the first ten months of the current year at 232,000 cars, compared to 236,000 in the same period in the last year, a 1.6% decrease.
A total of 163,700 private cars were sold compared to 167,300 cars in the same period last year, a decline of 2% while 27,400 buses were sold compared to 25,300 units in the same period in 2014, marking an increase of 8%. Truck sales declined by 5% with 41,500 units sold this year compared to 43,900 last year.
According to AMIC’s report, Chevrolet topped the market with a total of 52,800 cars sold, followed by Hyundai in second place with 38,100 cars sold, Nissan third with 22,200. Toyota came in fourth selling 19,900 cars, Renault in fifth with 14,400 cars, Suzuki in sixth with 12,200 cars, Kia in seventh with 11,400 cars, Mitsubishi in eighth with 9,400 cars, Geely in ninth with 6,300 cars, and Skoda in 10th with 5,400 cars.
Sales of local cars declined by 10.7% by the end of the first 10 months in 2015, recording a total of 106,000 cars compared to 119,000 in the same period in 2014. On the other hand, 126,000 imported cars were sold compared to 117,000 in the same period last year.
Ceremonial head of AMIC Raafat Masrouga previously said the companies’ data sent to them are significantly exaggerated, especially in the first half of the current year, and that some agents overstated the number of their sales in an attempt to improve their position in the market.
He said some companies have a high stock as a result of the low demand on cars, which contradicts with their sales’ reports submitted to AMIC.
Masrouga expected the last quarter of the year to register a decline in greater amounts when the companies correct their final reports to match the real numbers of their sales submitted to the mother companies, who then revise their agents’ final sales.
He explained that some agents tried to cancel import requests from international companies in the last four months as a result of the dollar crisis, the difficulty of opening letters of credit, and the high stock they have.
The pricing policy settled by agents is illogical in comparison to the cars’ real prices, he said, noting that they are put in place without taking the consumer into consideration. He expected sales in the car market to decline by 5%-8% by the end of 2015.
