According to the Association of Lebanese Car Importers (AIA), the number of new registered “commercial” and “passenger” cars recorded a 21.16% annual drop to settle at 8,601 cars by April 2019. In details, the breakdown of the AIA’s statistics revealed that the number of newly registered “passenger” cars dropped by 20.45% year-on-year (y-o-y) to settle at 8,101 cars. In turn, the number of newly registered “commercial” vehicles contracted by a yearly 31.03% to 500 cars.
The AIA emphasizes that, “This situation is due to the dramatic economic and political situation prevailing in the country, to the decisions of the banks to impose a down payment of 25% and to raise the interest rate from 3.9% to 8.5% on car loans, and also to increase the interest rate on companies, which hinders their growth.”
According to BlomInvest statistics, in terms of sales per car importer, RASAMNY YOUNIS MOTOR CO.SAL ranked first contributing to 15.34% of total sales over the period. NATCO followed with a share of 14.69%, and BUMC with 10.55%.
Breakdown of Passenger and Commercial Cars by April
Source: AIA