United Arab Emirates January-April 2017: Nissan Patrol beats all Toyotas

The Nissan Patrol is #1 in the UAE. Picture courtesy drivearabia.com

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New vehicle sales in the United Arab Emirates are down a harsh 23% year-on-year to 88.781 units. Leader Toyota remains ultra-dominant and manages to lose less ground than the market at -20%, resulting in a 29% market share. Nissan also holds its head above water at -22% to 16.1% share but Mitsubishi freefalls 45% to 9.2%. BMW (-13%), Chevrolet (-13%) and Lexus (-14%) lose less ground than the market inside the Top 10 but the best performer by far is Kia managing a 17% improvement to 4.3% share in 5th place vs. #7 over the Full Year 2016. Dodge (+24%), Hino (+10%), Peugeot (+42%), Maserati (+46%), Geely (+25%) and Lincoln (+43%) also manage a year-on-year gain inside the Top 30 albeit with much smaller volumes. At the other end of the scale, Ford (-30%), Volkswagen (-31%), Audi (-35%), Land Rover (-36%), Hyundai (-43%) and Renault (-49%) struggle.

The Geely X7 Sport has landed in the UAE. Picture uae.yallamotor.com

The UAE models ranking is the theatre of a rare event: a non-Toyota new leader. The Nissan Patrol manages to take the lead thanks to a much improved 7.8% market share vs. 4.9% over the Full Year 2016. It is the first time the Patrol leads a YTD ranking in the UAE since BSCB started following this market in 2005. It outsells its archenemy and 2016 leader the Toyota Land Cruiser by over 1.200 sales, a frank victory. The Toyota Hilux remains in third place while the Mitsubishi Lancer EX and Pajero exchange positions to #4 and #5 respectively. The Toyota Camry and Hiace both jump three spots to #7 and #9 respectively, making it six Toyotas in the Top 10 along with the Prado and Land Cruiser pickup. The BMW X5 brilliantly stays inside the Top 10 with an improved 2.7% share. Notice also the BMW 7 Series up to #19, the Kia Cerato up from #50 in FY2016 to #20, the Honda City up from #92 to #37 and the Mitsubishi ASX up from #98 to #39. The Nissan Kicks (#59) and Geely X7 Sport (#119) are the most popular newcomers.

Previous post: United Arab Emirates Full Year 2016: Toyota Land Cruiser takes control

One year ago: UAE January-April 2016: Mitsubishi Lancer EX stays #1, Pajero up to #3

Full January-April 2017 Top 43 brands and Top 250 models below.