Saudi Arabia 2006: Chevrolet up to record 15% share, sales surpass 400,000 for 1st time

Chevrolet holds 15% of the Saudi new car market in 2006.

It’s another record for the Saudi new light vehicle market at 445,856 units in 2006, up 13.3% on the year prior. Toyota (+8.8%) doesn’t quite benefit from the sales growth and loses share to 27.9%. Chevrolet on the other hand almost doubles the market rate at +25.1% to 15% share vs. 13.6% a year ago. Nissan (+17.8%) bounces back up to 10.5%. Hyundai (+3%), GMC (+9.3%) and Mitsubishi (+7.5%) camp on their 2005 positions with disappointing upticks. Honda (+30.8%) and Kia (+17.1%) also beat the market in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, biggest gainers are Mercedes (+57.5%), BMW (+55.7%) and Suzuki (+46.6%).

Over in the models lane, the Toyota Camry (+11.6%) enjoys its 9th consecutive year in the top spot with a dominant 10.3% share. The Toyota Corolla (+2.4%) and Land Cruiser 100 (+4.3%) follow like in 2005. The Chevrolet Caprice (+29.7%) advances two spots on last year to a record 4th place while the GMC Suburban (+25.5%) is up three to #8. The Toyota Hilux (+13.4%) is down a further rank to #6 ahead of the Honda Accord (+37.1%) back inside the Top 10 at #7. The Hyundai Sonata (+31.1%) breaks into the Top 10 for the first time at #9, with the Chevrolet Aveo (+26.1%), Optra (+26.4%) and Epica (+36.7%) all standing out further down.

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Full Year 2006 Top 50 All brands and Top 264 All models vs. Full Year 2005 figures below.