According to the Association of Lebanese Car Importers (AIA), the number of newly registered commercial and passenger cars in the first month of 2016 increased by an annual 1.3% to 2,595 cars. In details, the registration of new passenger vehicles slid by a yearly 1.1% to 2,409 cars while the registration of new commercial cars increased from 125 cars in January 2015 to 186 cars in January 2016.
Downturns in the registration of new passenger vehicles were witnessed across all brands in January. The leading Japanese cars saw a fall in registration from 1,182 cars in January 2015 to 937 cars in January 2016. The registration of Korean cars also shrunk from 1,037 cars in January 2015 to 707 cars in the same month in 2016. European and American vehicles also saw their registration numbers respectively fall from 699 and 171 in January 2015 to 624 and 133 in January 2016.
Buyers of new commercial cars are also looking to benefit from the attractive prices of European and Japanese cars due to the depreciation of the euro and the yen. In the European segment, Dacia led the increase in commercial cars registration with 33 Dacia registered in January 2016 compared to 13 registered in January 2015. While no commercial Mercedes cars were registered in the first month of 2015, 9 were registered in the first month of this year. In the Japanese segment, the number of commercial Isuzu registration more than doubled from 6 in January 2015 to 17 in January 2016 and the number of commercial Nissan registration rose from 4 to 13 over the same period.
In January 2016, NATCO, the importer of Kia, retained the highest market share of 17.65%. BUMC came in close second with a share of 16.15%, followed by 12.60% for Bassoul Heneine, 9.63% for Century Motor Co and 9.21% for Rymco.
Car Brands, Share in Total New Passenger Cars
Source: Association of Car Importers in Lebanon