Car sales down 40%: Car dealers association

CAIRO – 4 July 2017: Rising fuel prices affected the car market negatively, resulting in an expected 40 percent decline in sales over the coming period, head of car dealers association Osama Abu Al-Majd said on Monday.

Abu Al-Majd told Egypt Today that applying value added tax (VAT) on automobile sales will hinder customer’s purchasing power.

In order to reach an agreement regarding controlling the increasing prices of cars, Abu Al-Majd called for a meeting between car distributors, the Consumer Protection Agency and the Customs Authority.

Four car distributing companies already raised their prices, Abu Al-Majd said, adding that the market can’t bear any more price increases.

“Car sales in 2016 amounted to 200,000 cars, however, for the current year, sales are expected to be below 120,000 cars,” he said.

After implementing the VAT at 14 percent in fiscal year 2017/18, car distributors will increase their prices between LE 1,900 and LE 5,000 depending on car model.