The Saudi Arabian automobile market (page 2 of 2)

Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam account for close to two-thirds of all second hand vehicles bought. And, once again Dammam is the only city where American brands have a higher share.



Now how different are the various buyers?

What separates the American car buyer from the European car buyer is that American brands are bought more often by locals while European brands have a substantial Expat Arab patronage.

Those how buy Japanese and Korean brands have lower income levels but higher levels of education vis-à-vis American/ European brand buyer.



We have just seen some aspects of the Saudi Arabian vehicle market. To summarise:

1. Average age of vehicles is 6.4 years, with 42% bought after 2001 and Sedans being more popular than 4X4s

2. New vehicles - Japanese brands account for two-thirds of the new vehicle market with American brand accounting for less than a third. Korean brands have been growing over time while the share of European brands has been declining. Dammam is the only place where American brands close the gap to Japanese brands

3. Second hand vehicles - Japanese brands lead but have a relatively lesser share than when bought new. American brands are the next most purchased brands and have a higher share in the second hand market than when bought new. This trend is also true for European brands. Korean brands perform poorly in the second hand car market.