New car sales in Lebanon increase 8.31%

New car sales in Lebanon stood at 3,454 vehicles during the month of September 2014, compared to 3,353 vehicles in August and 2,592 vehicles in September of last year, as reported by Credit Libanais Market Watch published by the Economic Research Unit of Credit Libanais Group.
 
According to the Automobile Importers’ Association (AIA), new car sales rose by 8.31 percent year-on-year to 28,811 cars as of the end of the first nine months of 2014, up from 26,601 vehicles during that same period a year earlier.
 
Sales of Japanese cars soared by 35.18 percent year-on year to 9,565 cars, with the sales of European cars remaining almost flat at 5,252 cars. Sales of Korean, American and Chinese cars, however, fell by 0.83 percent, 9.22 percent and 17.60 percent to 12,239 cars, 1,329 cars and 426 cars respectively.
 
Nevertheless, Korean cars continued to control the lion’s share of new car sales, amassing alone 42.48 percent of total new car sales since the beginning of the year.
The Daily Star
13 October