DOHA: Qatar’s passenger car market has clocked 8 percent growth last year. According to industry sources, the passenger car market saw about 86,000 registrations in 2014 and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) dominated the sales.
“SUVs segment dominates the sales in Qatari market. Qatari and expatriates both love to drive SUVs because of many factors,” said branch head of car dealer. “SUVs offer elevated driving position which gives them a sense of security. It also offers good ground clearance which allows a driver to take out family on off-road trips. The versatile space in SUVs makes it a good car for family outings,” he added.
High disposable income and comparatively cheap fuel prices are the other major factors driving Qatar’s passenger car market. Apart from SUVs, compact sedan has also seen impressing growth in Qatar.
“The passenger car market is likely witness robust growth in coming years because of continuous inflow of expatriates and government’s ongoing expenditure on mega infrastructure projects,” said the branch manager.
According to BMI Research, there were 42,652 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) sold over the January-May period in the current year, up by 9.09 percent. However, there was much stronger growth seen from the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment, whose sales increased by 35.63 percent, to 3,913 units. This outperformance by the HCV segment comes as little surprise to BMI, given the strong demand for HCVs and construction equipment resulting from Qatar’s extensive pipeline of new infrastructure projects, including the stadia and transport infrastructure required ahead of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, said BMI.
Looking forward, BMI believes that the scene is set for good sales growth across both 2015 and 2016, with domestic demand and construction activity remaining underpinned by the government’s heavy public investment programme. Although growth may then slow towards the end of our forecast period in 2019, we are still anticipating a robust 43 percent growth in auto sales over the 2015-19 period, taking total new vehicle sales to above the 145,000 unit mark, BMI said.
In 2013, Toyota Motor remained the dominant manufacturer on the Qatari market, selling some 28,431 units in Qatar for a market share of 31.5 percent, according to information on the Focus2Move website, said BMI. In second place was Nissan Motor on 14,811 units (16.4 percent share), followed by Korean manufacturer Hyundai Motor. The leading sellers of commercial vehicles in Qatar are reportedly General Motors Company, Fuso Trucks and Isuzu Motor. Hyundai is a leading seller of buses within the country.
