Iraq New Vehicles market dropped 40% in the 2015. The industry was severely hit by the economic crisis, with GDP down 2.9%, due to high military expenses and fall of 85% revenues from oil. Kia was market leader.
Country Outlook
Although oil exports dropped slightly in February compared to January—due to inclement weather that held back a number of shipments—Iraq is still exporting historically high quantities of oil. Nevertheless, the country’s oil revenues are a fraction of what they were two years ago.
On a recent visit to Germany, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi stated that the revenues have seen an 85% decline over the past two years, pushing the county into a fiscal crisis. The country is in desperate need of cash, not only to cover routine expenditure, but also to finance its ongoing military operations against ISIL.
The government has slashed civil servants’ pay a number of times in the past 12 months, with the latest cut in January. This will add to the factors hampering growth this year, which include ethnic and religious tensions, as well as the deteriorating security situation. Analysts project GDP growth of 3.5% for this year, which is down 0.1 percentage points from last month’s forecast.
Market Outlook
For the very first time we found data on this market, potentially one of the biggest on the entire middle east.
Fifteen year ago the local domestic market peaked near 200.000 units sales per year dropping to few thousand units at the end of the last decade. The fast recovery shown in the period 2011-2012 was hit, initially, by the deflagrare of war against ISIL, and then, by the economic crisis generated by the sharp drop of oil price and high military expenses, with GDP down 2.9%.
Consequently, in he 2015 he market was reported sharply down from the previous year with total figures at 55.000 units (down 41.0%).
The market is in the hands of three manufacturers holding 81.4% of market share: Kia, Hyundai and Toyota.
In the 2015 the best-selling model was the Kia Frontier followed by the Toyota Hilux and the Kia Sorento. Pick ups and SUVs cover 95% of the sales.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and top 10 Models
