According to the Association of Lebanese Car Importers (AIA), the total number of newly registered commercial and passenger cars slightly rose by an annual 1.31% to stand at 36,453 cars by Nov. 2017.
In details, the number of registered commercial cars increased by 3.71% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 2,457, and the number of registered passenger vehicles rose by 1.14% to reach 33,996 cars by Nov. 2017.
In terms of car brands, Kia maintained its top rank, with the largest share of 19.6% of newly registered passenger cars, followed by Hyundai, Nissan, and Toyota which grasped the respective shares of 12.92%, 8.37%, and 8.23%.
As for sales per importer, Natco acquired the largest stake of newly registered cars with 19.14% of the total, followed by RYMCO with 13.97%, Century Motor Co. and BUMC with 12.57% and 12.07%, respectively.
It is interesting to note that on a monthly basis, there is evidence of seasonality, as the number of registered new cars slumped by 20.88% month-on-month (m-o-m), to stand at 2,857 cars in November 2017. Similarly, the number of total registered new cars in each of November of 2015 and 2014 recorded declines of 15.29% m-o-m and 23.61% m-o-m. Meanwhile, the number of total registered new cars in November 2016 slipped by 3.41% compared to October 2016, but this came on the back of the break of a 5-year political impasse with the election of a Lebanese president in end-October 2016, spurring a positive sentiment across the market.
Nonetheless, the month of November 2017 was marked by the shock resignation announcement of the Lebanese prime minister which temporarily shook the country’s economic, security, and political fronts. In details, knowing that the Lebanese market generally prefers small passenger cars due to the lack of a structured public transport, the number of small passenger cars plummeted by 21.18% compared to October 2017, to 2,672 passenger cars. Meanwhile, the number of commercial cars declined by 16.29% m-o-m, to 185 cars in November 2017.
Breakdown of Passenger and Commercial Cars by November
Source: AIA