DOHA: Local distributors of new cars, unruffled by accusations that their prices are high as compared to those in some neighbouring countries, have demanded that they be given back their exclusive import rights.
“The law should protect us,” a senior representative of the local agency of a famous Japanese carmaker said. “Parallel imports are hurting us.”
Omer Ahmed El Shafai, sales director of Abdullah Abdulghani and Bros, the local agents of Toyota, said at Al Sharq’s Ramadan tent last weekend: “The law should protect import rights of dealers”.
With him were marketing heads of several car agencies, dealing in Kia, GMC and Audi vehicles, among others.
Qatar, in line with its open market policy, had withdrawn exclusive import rights from local distributors of foreign goods and services in a bid to end monopolistic trade practices.
El Shafai said that after the tsunami hit Japan, the prices of their cars here went up, prompting Qatar’s state-run consumer watchdog (the Consumer Protection Department of the Ministry of Economy and Trade) to intervene.
“After that our car prices have been stable,” said El Shafai.
Agreeing that new cars were costlier here than in some other GCC countries, he said car dealers in other GCC countries asked manufacturers to reduce accessories in the cars. Here buyers insist on a lot of accessories. “Moreover, we don’t have the authority to make that demand.”
“Then, you cannot compare a small market like Qatar to those of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which import 350,000 cars a year… The quantity here is so small, and that impacts pricing.”
He said while the CPD actively intervened and controlled pricing, car agencies had no association of theirs (to press their viewpoint).
He also criticised the traffic department and said it did not provide yearly data about new car registrations brand-wise, so no one knew sale volumes. “In Saudi Arabia and the UAE, such statistics are made available.”
Hussam Abu Shadi, from Al Attiyah Motors, dealers in Kia vehicles, spoke of other factors that lead to high car prices.
He said spiralling commercial property rents, and high staff salaries were major contributors to the high prices of new cars.
The other major challenge is that service centres are only permitted in the Industrial Area where no land is available.
“We had to, therefore, squeeze some space from our warehouse there and spend QR120m to build a service facility in the basement,” he said.
Talking of Kia, he said the Qatari market had been expanding very fast and so demand for Kia had been going up steeply.
“We have a limited supply from the manufacturers since they have fixed quota for Qatar, so the result is that our customers here complain about delays in deliveries,” said Abu Shadi.
About spare parts being so expensive, Mohamed El Talhawi, from Q-Auto, the agency for Audi, said that some car dealerships sold at cheaper rates spare parts that were not original. “So when a dealer sells original spare parts that are expensive, the prices look exorbitant.”
The Peninsula
