Jeddah Motor Show heralds resurgence of auto industry

"We are delighted with the public's enthusiasm for this year's 34th edition. The event has exceeded expectations in scale to offer manufacturers a most satisfying and profitable platform," said Zahoor Siddique, Vice President of Al Harithy Company for Exhibitions.

The enthusiasm already expected from the impressive lineup of the newest sports and luxury cars, sedans, and SUVs , auto care, spare parts, customized cars and motorcycles presented by well-known local and international companies. Some of the models were formally launched during the event.

The Jeddah Motor Show 2010 opened on Monday, December 24 with the inauguration ceremony graced by Eng. Mufareh Bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani, the director of transport and road affairs of the western region in the presence of a number of vehicle importers, agents and distributors, as well as their exhibitors and car lovers.

Siddique added, "We are extremely happy about the outcome of this year's Motor Show, as the number of visitors exceeded the previous show's count. We had the participation of international companies represented by seven countries, which included France, Japan, China, UK, India, Japan, Korea, and Germany."

Visitors said, "The exhibition was excellent as it displayed under one roof few of the latest cars made in different parts of the world. "I think this show came at the right time to shop for a new car as the new year is approaching," said a 29 year-old Naser Al Rihani.

Meanwhile, his friend Hatem Ba Aqee,l said, "He came to the show just to see the customized car." "I am into customization cars and very interested to see what they have for this year," he said.

Car enthusiasts said, "They were pleased with the show as it catered to two segregated sections of after sales auto care - a trade section alone for businessmen, traders and distributors, and a public section for those car buffs that are looking for what is new in the automotive gadgetry."

While the Japanese cars took center stage at the exhibition, the display of Korean and Chinese brands including Geely, BYD and Lifan attracted a sizeable number of visitors who had thronged the event.

"I am attracted by some of these Korean and Chinese cars because of their price competitiveness," Sarah Jamal, a Saudi housewife, said. "I am going to recommend one of these cars to my husband," she added.

Making the Saudi International Motor Show the platform for showcasing its unique models, Mohammed Mousa, marketing manager Volkeswagen Saudi Arabia, said, "Building on the success of our participation at the Riyadh Motor Show, we now offer people in Jeddah the opportunity to see up-close our extremely impressive range of models, which provide a combination of quality, innovative technology, German engineering all at competitive prices."

VW showcased its impressive 2013 model lineup such as Passat, Polo, Jett, Passat CC, Touareg, Golf R and Tiguan. Toyota making a strong presence at SIMS and has unveiled its all new 2013 Avalon and the completely reengineered SUV Rav4 at the ongoing Saudi International Motor Show in Jeddah.

Adel Ezzat, managing director of Marketing at Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ), the authorised distributor of Toyota in Saudi Arabia, said, "The Saudi International Motor Show is a world-class event and as such it is the ideal platform for us to unveil two key Toyota models, while also on display are the Toyota Prius, the pioneer of hybrid vehicles, some special editions for our youth and the complete range of Toyota cars."

Chinese cars were among the major attractions of the show. In fact, Ali Alireza, Managing Director of Haji Husein Alireza Co. (HHA), was prominent among those welcoming the chief guest at the opening ceremony, said, "He was very much delighted to have been there. HHA is the local exclusive dealer of Geely Holding Group's Geely cars. HHA launched China-made 'Geely & Geely Emgrand' cars earlier in 2012."

Dan Fer, vice general manager of Lifan, said, "The future would be for Chinese cars after the substantial development in its automotive industry."

"We are surprised and delighted by the visitors' reach of the Saudi International Motor Show. It is been a success days here as we have sold around 38 cars in just two days and we expect to sell around 5000 cars within the next three years," He added.

On the other side, Marwan Massad, sales manager of MG in the Kingdom, said, "The Saudi International Motor Show has been very successful for us, both in terms of exposure and in sales. We have been in Saudi Arabia for almost a year and we are doing great as we sold 2000 cars in 2012 and expect to sell 6000 in 2013."

The Saudi International Motor Show also proved the ideal environment for parts, accessories and customization companies to showcase their products and services. In a country where customization is popular among Saudi youth, Ayman Taher an expert in customization said that there is a huge demand for customization and young people spend around SR30000 -500000 to change the look of their cars.

The organizers, A-Harithy Company for Exhibitions have already announced the dates of the next edition as 24-28 December, 2013.