UAE Market Report – June 2012
Discount Season is upon us say Autodata experts
By Shahzad Sheikh
“We are now at the start of the ‘discount season’ says Bill Carter of Autodata Middle East in his latest report.
Ford Focus
He believes that increased levels of advertising from the dealers suggests the “industry is gearing up for the full range of summer activities,” which is slightly at odds with the normal view that the market will quieten down.
“Summer Surprises usually kicks the proceeding off and this nicely coincides with the model year change by a large number of manufacturers. This year, with the holy month of Ramadan starting towards 21st July, means that the offers will then continue into the normal Ramadan and Eid campaigns,” sounds like he could be on to something there.
Some dealers will be wanting to clear out current stock of new cars to make way for MY13 arrivals arriving this month onwards, so there could be bargains to be had on MY12 cars, be sure to haggle hard.
That also means fresh trade-ins and Carter warns dealerships’ used car departments to “work closely with their new car colleagues to ensure that every part exchange gets a serious bid to make sure a competitor does not benefit from your loss. It will also mean customer retention.”
But he also confirms that “Most dealers are waking up to the fact that used cars are not a dirty word!”
Ford’s compact starts coming into Focus
Looks like the Focus is starting to gain a foothold in the UAE according to Autodata.
“The Ford Focus has been in the top 5 of new car sales across Europe since its launch in 1990s. It is now starting to gain a following in the UAE as expats will tend to choose something they know and trust from back home.”
An additional factor is the novelty value of the Focus compared to the over-familiar rivals that typically dominate in this segment.
“This means that the second hand values are starting to improve and the rate of depreciation is starting to slow.”
