Sales across the automotive market continue to decline, registering a 25.4% drop over the first seven months of 2016, compared to the same period in 2015. From January to July, the market saw the trade of 120,000 cars, which is a comparatively significant drop from 161,000 units in the same period last year. Passenger car sales registered 84,400 sold units in the first seven months of 2016, a decline of 25% compared to 112,500 cars sold as of July 2015, a report by the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC) disclosed. Bus sales dropped by 31% to register 13,300 sold units, compared to 19,300 buses year-on-year (y-o-y), while sales of trucks dipped by 23% to register 22,100 sold units, compared to 28,800 y-o-y. Sales of locally-assembled cars also declined, registering sales of 60,500 units in the first seven months of 2016, compared to 73,000 units y-o-y─which is a 17.2% decline. Imported car sales fell by 32.5% from 87,800 units in the first half of 2015 to 59,400 cars in the same period this year. Honorary chairperson of the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC) Raafat Masrouga said that the decline in car sales is due to the House of Representatives' adoption of the value-added tax, which will increase the prices of imported and locally assembled cars between 1,600 cc and 2,000 cc 2-3%, and imported cars above 2,000 cc by 5-4%. July saw a 20% decline in car sales, the AMIC report showed, compared to July 2015. The trade market recorded 18,200 units traded that month, compared to 22,800 cars sold in July 2015. The report showed a 22% decline in passenger car sales in July, 39.7% of bus sales, and 14.9% in truck sales, compared to July 2015. According to the report, Chevrolet continued to top the market from January to July, representing 21.7% of the total sales. Hyundai followed Chevrolet in second place with 20.4% of total sales. Nissan came in third with 12%, followed by Toyota with 6.3%, Kia with 5.3%, and Suzuki with 4.8% of the total sales. Mitsubishi came in seventh place, acquiring 4.8% of the market sales, followed by Opel with 4%, and Chery Ghabour with 3%. Peugeot obtained 2% of the market share.
