The total number of registered new and imported used cars during the first 11 months of 2014 has dropped by 2% compared to the same period last year. According to the Association of Car Importers in Lebanon (AIA), there was a 5.39% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in the number of registered new passenger and commercial cars, which implies that the increase took place at the expense of used cars. Registered new cars stood at 36,648 vehicles by November. This was due to the 5.59% y-o-y surge in the registration of new passenger vehicles to 34,522 in the first eleven months of the year. Likewise, the number of registered commercial cars inched up by 2.13% y-o-y to 2,126.
Moreover, 90% of the registered cars are small cars with low selling prices less than $15,000, while luxury cars, with selling price above $100,000, represent only 3.5%.
Worth mentioning that compared to the previous month, the number of registered new cars plunged by 25.51% due to the Central Bank’s decision to impose a down payment of 25% on car loans, in addition to the dramatic economic, political and security situation in the country.
Looking at the car sales brand breakdown, Kia topped the list with a 22.50% share of the total, followed by Hyundai (18.98%), Toyota (13.01%), Nissan (12.37%) and Renault (3.48%). As for the top five distributors in Lebanon by November, NATCO SAL had the highest share of 21.20% of the total, followed by Century Motor Co (18.26%), BUMC (13.26%), RYMCO (13.00%), and Bassoul Heneine (7.33%).