Gulf Full Year 2013: Toyota Hilux down, Corolla & Prado up

The Toyota Hilux is still king of the desert in the Middle-East… Picture by 3zoz_1

* See the Top 200 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Ldman *

The Gulf Cooperation Council area includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and is one of the most dynamic car markets in the world: up a fantastic 10% year-on-year (or 140,000 units!) to 1,632,908 registrations. This brings the region at roughly the same level as markets like France (1.79 million) or Canada (1.74 million). Toyota is ultra dominant here, monopolising the models podium and placing 9 models inside the Top 12! The Hilux remains the most popular vehicle in the region but sees its sales drop by 5% this year to 129,101 units and 7.9% share, over one percentage point below its 2012 market share. Reversely both the Toyota Corolla up 20% to 95,308 units and Prado up 21% and 2 spots on 2012 to 71,701 sales make significant progress in 2013, with the Prado snapping up the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain markets this year.

…But the Toyota Corolla is catching up fast.

In 4th place the Hyundai Elantra is even more impressive, up 61% and 3 ranks year-on-year to 67,669 sales, passing the Toyota Land Cruiser (-2%), Camry (-4%) and its lil sister the Hyundai Accent (-1%). Below the Toyota Land Cruiser P/U-HT and Yaris stable at #8 and #9 respectively, the Nissan D22 Pick-up is enjoying a bit of a renaissance in the region, back up 87% and 10 spots on 2012 to #10 and 32,798 units, becoming the brand’s best-seller in the Gulf.

The Chevrolet Impala is the 2nd most popular all-new model in the Gulf in 2013…

Other solid performers in the region this year include the Honda Accord up 25% to #13, the Nissan Patrol up 33% to #18, Hyundai Santa Fe up 26% to #23, Mitsubishi Pajero up 58% and 12 spots to #27, the Ford Taurus up 59% to #31, Lexus ES up 52% to #40 and Renault Duster up 194% to #59. Among newcomers, let’s salute the Nissan Sentra landing at #39 with 9,945 sales, the Chevrolet Impala at #115 and 2,119 units, the Hyundai i10 at #125 and 1,963 sales and the Peugeot 301 at #127 and 1,878 units.

The A8 is Audi’s best-selling sedan in the Gulf…

Finally let’s point out a trend that is specific to the Middle East (and potentially Russia as well): when it comes to premium/luxury brands, the larger models tend to be the best-sellers of the range. Case in point: the Q7 and A8 are Audi’s best-sellers, the 5 and 7 Series, X5 and X6 all outsell the 3 Series in the BMW range, the Lexus LS (#111) is above the IS (#122) and Mercedes sells two S Class for each C Class that find a buyer in the region!

Previous post: Gulf July 2013: Toyota Corolla and Camry shine

Previous year: Gulf Full Year 2012: Toyota Hilux, Corolla and Land Cruiser rock on

Full Year 2013 Top 200 models Ranking Table below.