Qatar witnessed average monthly sales of 5,600 private vehicles, totalling 67,000 newly-manufactured vehicles during 2015, according to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC).
November saw the highest number of sales, reaching over 6,771 vehicles, followed by March 6,607 and the lowest was recorded in September at 4,502, MEC said in its report, released yesterday.
By contrast, the data revealed that car ownership transfers, indicating the volume of sales pertaining to second-hand vehicles, witnessed a higher sales frequency during the last three months of 2015, and average monthly sales of more than three times the average monthly sale of new vehicles.
In the second-had market, December 2015 saw sales of 20,800, registering an increase of approximately 4% year-on-year, it said, adding the estimated vehicle sales during November was 21,000 with an average increase of 8.5% from the same month in 2014, and about 11.2% from October 2015.
Private vehicle imports topped the list of total commodity imports during 2015, where the value of Qatar’s imports of these vehicles amounted to nearly QR10.8bn, the equivalent of 9.1% of the total value of commodity imports to Qatar in 2015.
Qatar’s import of these vehicles was higher during the first half of 2015 and reached its peak in April at nearly QR1.2bn and in December alone, the value of new vehicle imports exceeded QR1.1bn.
Private vehicle imports saw their lowest levels in August at an estimated value of QR682mn, followed by May at QR733mn, the report said.
“Qatar is considered among a group of countries with promising automobile market sectors, along with Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where automobile trade activities are able to achieve superior financial returns, in contrast with low levels of risk when compared to the average level of returns and resultant risks in the Middle-east and North Africa,” the ministry said.