The automobile sector carried on recording a significant growth in sales during the first two quarters of the year, including European car manufacturers, who declared a remarkable double-digit growth in the UAE.
The UAE market remained the strongest market for a majority of auto manufacturers compared to other markets in the Middle East.
German premium brand Audi on Monday announced more than 27 per cent growth in sales in the UAE, compared to 20 per cent in other parts of the Middle East. Audi said it delivered 5,130 vehicles to customers across the GCC and Levant in the first six months of 2013, an all-time Middle East record. Audi’s 2013 focus, however, is on capacity and quality in its sales and after sales network infrastructure.
“If the product and service is right, sales follow. Excellent service in sales and after sales is the backbone of our business,” said Trevor Hill, managing director of Audi Middle East.
The strongest single market for Audi is the UAE with 2,210 vehicles sold in the first half, representing a growth of 27.2 per cent. Al Nabooda Automobiles, Audi’s official dealer for Dubai and the Northern Emirates, translated their investment in the world’s largest Audi terminal into the highest sales volume by a single dealer across the region with 1,339 units. In addition, Dubai’s ultra-luxury car market shows no signs of slowing its impressive growth, according to AGMC, the sole dealer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars in Dubai, Sharjah and the Northern Emirates.
The company sold its highest ever volume of vehicles in the first half of the year, as it revealed a double-digit growth of 14 per cent in the first half of 2013 compared to the same period last year.
The dealer also revealed that Rolls-Royce currently dominates the ultra-luxury car segment in the UAE, which was worth an estimated half a billion dirhams in 2012, capturing over 70 per cent of the market share versus its competitors. The ultra-luxury car segment is defined as vehicles that sell for over one million dirhams.
Commenting on the milestone, Osman Abdelmoneim, general manager of AGMC, said: “Rolls-Royce is the ultimate mark of achievement and distinction. The double digit growth underlines Rolls-Royce’s unrivalled dominance of the ultra-luxury automotive market, and signifies the rapidly-growing appetite for the brand.”
Abu Dhabi Motors on Tuesday said that it sold more cars than any other Rolls-Royce dealer in the world during the first six months of the year. The dealer didn’t provide the figure of number of vehicles sold or growth.
Arno Husselmann, general manager of Abu Dhabi Motors, said: “Our investments in customer services, facilities and people have long been paying off.”
Volkswagen Middle East has announced record growth in deliveries for January to June period of 2013 with a 30 per cent increase across regional markets and a 35 per cent growth across the AGCC, compared to the same period in 2012. The results from January to June 2013 reveal continued strong performances for the best-selling Volkswagen Touareg SUV, along with the Tiguan and Passat, which arrived in the region last year, according to the company.
Peugeot said successful launches in the first half of 2013 drove the brand forward and it recorded more than 20 per cent growth in sales outside the Europe.
The car manufacturer didn’t disclose six months figure of the Middle East, but said it was 57 per cent higher in 2012 over 2011. Against the background of a depressed overall European market and overseas markets with contrasting changes, Automobiles Peugeot recorded 808,000 sales worldwide during the first half of 2013.
Earlier, BMW Group Middle East declared a 22 per cent increase in sales for the first half of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. The UAE remained the highest volume selling market in the Middle East, accounting for 49 per cent of BMW and Mini regional sales in the first half of the year, followed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
