Dubai: Countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council are becoming increasingly attractive markets for the automobile industry, with vehicle sales expected to reach nearly two million units within the next few years, according to analysts Frost & Sullivan.
Due to sustained economic growth rates and continued government-driven investment on transport and logistics infrastructure, vehicle sales are set on a high growth path.
Sales of cars and pickups are estimated to record a cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9 percent in the period 2012 to 2017 to reach 1.66 million units. Trucks and buses sales are set to rise at 8.7 per cent annually over the same period to reach 155,000 units. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also considered the largest markets in the GCC in terms of the number of vehicles on the road. There will be 16.36 million registered cars and pickups in the GCC three years from now, with the CAGR estimated to be 6.3 percent between 2012 and 2017.
The number of trucks and buses is expected to reach 1.42 million in 2017, recording a CAGR of 6.9 percent. QNA
