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Daily News Egypt participates in "Buy Your Dream Car" initiative We concluded a national agreement with car dealers and traders in favour of consumers, Abaza says
In an attempt to face recent price hikes and help those who want to purchase a new car, Daily News Egypt decided to participate in the initiative launched by the automotive department of Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, under the title "Buy Your Dream Car." This initiative comes in cooperation with about 20 car agents and distributors who agreed to offer discounts and make prices steady during the period of the initiative from 19 to 31 March. Khaled Abaza, general supervisor of automotive supplement at Al-Masry Al-Youm, said that the initiative started after the price hikes of cars, caused by the jump of dollar prices at banks, as well as by the increase of the customs dollar rate for imported cars. Price hikes forced consumers to avoid purchasing new cars, because they no longer know the proper timing for it or the reasonable price of any given car. Therefore, the newspaper agreed with a number of car agents and dealers to offer discounts to consumers in March. The car market suffers from a severe recession since the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) decision to float the pound exchange rate and increase the customs dollar rate. The initiative includes Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru, Chevrolet, Škoda, Opel, Mazda, Kia, Ford, Toyota, Suzuki, Renault, SsangYong, Volvo, Chery, Volkswagen, Geely, Jack, Changan, and Synova. Car companies have recently offered discounts to limit the recession experienced recently in the market. A car distributor told Daily News Egypt that these price cuts are temporary, and the car agents will develop new pricing lists in the next month. Ahmed Mehrez, director general of ARTOC Auto Company, expected more increase in the car prices due to the increase of the dollar price. He stressed, however, that his company is committed to the initiative until the end of March. The head of the Egyptian Automotive Dealers Association, Osama Abu El-Magd, encouraged consumers to purchase new cars in March to benefit from the discounts offered by distributors and dealers, expecting an increase in car prices in April. Abu El-Magd said that the car market witnessed a decline in prices because of what he described as "personal initiatives" by traders, in an attempt to revive sales movement, after the recession witnessed by the sector over the past months, as well as the significant decline of car sales in 2016. Car sales declined to 198,300 in 2016 compared to 278,400 in 2015, a decrease of 28.8%. Abu El-Magd added that the majority of car agents tended to accept a decrease in their profit margins to limit the current recession in the market. Khaled Saad, director general of Brilliance Egypt Company, said that car sales declined by 40% over the last two months, compared to the same period in 2016, due to the recession witnessed in the market following the successive waves of price hikes in the last three months. Saad predicted that auto sales will witness an improvement due to the discounts offered by most car dealers and agents to get rid of their accumulated storage of cars. He added that the car sales are expected to decline by 25-30% by the end of this year. Alaa El-Saba, chairperson of Elsaba Automotive, said that a number of car traders and agents have reduced their cars prices to move the market; however, the dollar crisis continues to impact the country, be it in terms of a shortage in cars or in high prices. El-Saba said car traders reduced their profit margins to increase sales, but the dollar exchange rate continued its increase against the pound by about 10%. It means that they technically need to increase car prices by the same percentage, according to the cost. He also stressed his commitment to offer discounts in March, despite high expectations that car agents will release new pricing lists in April. Kia reduced the prices of all its models, where the Rio decreased by EGP 28,000 to reach EGP 304,900. The company also slashed EGP 30,000 from the Carens, to reach EGP 444,900, and EGP 43,000 from the Cerato, now starting at EGP 299,900. The price of the Picanto also decreased, by EGP 23,000, to reach EGP 222,900, while that of the Soul reached EGP 370,000, a decline of EGP 30,000 from last month. The car manufacturer also removed EGP 40,000 from the price of the Sportage, to reach EGP 450,000. The company's sales revealed a decline of 15% in November compared to the previous year, selling 1,450 units following the flotation of the pound, compared to 1,650 units in November 2015. The decline rate in December registered 40%: 1,000 units compared to 1,670 units in December 2015. Hyundai reduced the price of all its models, where the price of the i10 now ranges between EGP 149,000 and EGP 165,000. The Grand i10 is priced between EGP 207,500 and EGP 223,000, with discounts worth EGP 35,000. The price of the Accent's first category reached between EGP 235,000 and EGP 258,000. The price of the Solaris is now between EGP 242,000 and EGP 257,000. The Creta is now priced from EGP 355,000 to EGP 412,000, while the Tucson was reduced by EGP 15,000, to reach between EGP 490,000 and EGP 551,000. Prices of the Elantra ranged between EGP 220,000 and EGP 367,000, with a discount of EGP 55,000, according to GA's new prices. Verna registered a price tag of EGP 145,000 for its first class and EGP 199,000 for its higher classes. I30 facelift prices are set between EGP 314,000 and EGP 385,000—a discount ratio of roughly 10% and at a value of EGP 35,000. Chery decreased the price of its Envy model by EGP 25,000 to reach EGP 144,500, while it increased the price of the Tiggo to register at EGP 217,000. The official price of Geely Emgrand 7 reached EGP 155,000 after price cuts amounting to EGP 25,000. The Japanese brand Mazda provided discounts of EGP 60,000 on its Mazda 3, to be sold at a price of EGP 291,000. The Mazda 2 reached EGP 289,000 after a discount of EGP 18,000 was applied. Subaru reduced its XV price by EGP 50,000, to start from EGP 400,000 for its first class and EGP 490,000 for the higher class, previously sold at a price of EGP 540,000. The initiative includes all new car models in the local market.
