Qatar Vehicles Market in 2015 down hit by the sharp 20% Q4 fall. Toyota and Nissan resist on top while Koreans has lost in double-digit. Mitsubishi shines advancing in third place gaining over 21% of sales. The 2016 is at risk.
Economic Outlook
As oil prices tumbled to a 12-year low in early January, the Emir of Qatar slashed oil subsidies by 30% and announced an important cabinet reshuffling to contain the widening fiscal deficit. The government merged several ministries to improve efficiency and opened the possibility for job cuts to slim the bureaucracy.
Analysts argue that the cabinet reshuffle not only reflects the economic woes the country is facing, but also shows the emir’s desire to consolidate his power. To plug the expected fiscal deficit of USD 12.8 billion in 2016, the Qatari government plans to tap in to sovereign debt markets for the first time since 2012.
The energy-rich state plans to issue U.S.-dollar-denominated sukuk (Islamic bonds) as early as March. In early January, Qatar borrowed USD 5.5 billion from different banks. All of these loans are aimed at shoring up domestic finances amid large-scale infrastructure projects that are currently under construction.
Market Outlook
Following a +7% reported in the first half, the market was progressively hit by the decline of consumer demand and the decline started in August was any month more consistent during the last part of the year, with Q4 sales reported down 20% from the same period last year.
The cut to public spending and risk fr the introduction of taxes (VAT overall) due to the huge fiscal deficit and still negative perspective for oil sector revenues, have reduced both private and companies demand for new vehicles.
The full 2015 sales at 96.565 units, had been down only 1.5% from the record level scored in the 2014 breaking a series of four records in a row. However, the 2016 is now expected at a sharp decline that could least not in short.
Toyota has lost 5% with sales at 31.041 but the second, Nissan fell 5.8% not gaining terrain. Behind, double-digit lost reported for Kia, Honda, Hyundai and Suzuki while positive data as far as Mitsubishi, advanced in third place with sales up 21%, Ford, Volkswagen and Isuzu.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for Top Brands
