Saudi Arabia 2000-2001: Toyota Camry up to 16% share in record market

The Toyota Camry holds 16% of the Saudi Arabian market in 2001.

The Saudi new car market surges 27.5% year-on-year in 2000 to 150,983 units, the largest annual tally since 1992. Toyota (+8%) can’t catch up with the overall growth rate and reduces its share to 30.5% vs. 36.1% a year ago. Nissan (+31.3%) on the other hand improves to 13.7% while Chevrolet (+29.2%) is up to 6.1% in third position. Hyundai (+82%) is up two spots on last year to a record 4th place, toppling Ford (+29.5%) and Honda (+17.3%) while Isuzu (+75.5%) advances two ranks to #6. GMC (+68.2%) is back in shape at #8 while Kia (+113.5%) is getting closer to a first Top 10 finish.

Over in the models ranking, the Toyota Camry (+0.2%) is stable and lodges a third straight annual win but sees its share shrink from 12.3% in 1999 to 9.7% this year. Meanwhile the Nissan Datsun pickup (+43.5%) soars to 2nd place, overtaking the Toyota Hilux (+10.3%). The Toyota Land Cruiser 100 (+1.7%) remains at #4 ahead of the Toyota Corolla (+16.4%) and a surging Isuzu KB (+106.3%). The Ford Crown Victoria (-9.3%) disappoints and falls to #7 while the Chevrolet Lumina (+51.4%) ends its first full year of sales at #8. The Hyundai Verna (+169.1%) cracks the Top 10. The Nissan Pulsar lands directly at #13.

In 2001, registrations surge by another 42.6% to 215,366, the first time the Saudi annual tally surpasses the 200,000 mark. Toyota (+82.7%) almost doubles the market growth rate to reach 39.1% share, the carmaker’s highest since 1991. Nissan (+62.7%) and Chevrolet (+54%) are also in great shape to complete the podium. Hyundai (+33.8%) stays in 5th place above Ford (+11.8%), Isuzu (+11.4%) and Honda (+13.3%), ensuring the Top 7 brands are identical to last year. Kia (+35.9%) breaks into the Top 10 for the first time at #10.

Model-wise, the Toyota Camry (+135.9%) soars to a record 16% share while the Toyota Hilux (+118.8%) also excels at 9.6% of the market. The Nissan Datsun (+29.1%) is relegated to third position ahead of the Toyota Land Cruiser 100 (+39.9%) and Corolla (+81.8%) camping on their 2000 rankings at #4 and #5 respectively. The Ford Crown Victoria (+56.9%) is back up one spot to #6 as are the Chevrolet Lumina (+52.2%) and Caprice (+56.1%). The Nissan Pulsar (+141.3%) ends its first full year of sales at #9 just as the Mazda Familia is the best-selling new launch at #20.

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Full Year 2000 Top 45 All brands and Top 207 All models below.