Qatar First Half 2018: Twins Land Cruiser & Lexus LX top market at -14%

The Lexus LX is up 83% year-on-tear to leap to #2 overall in Qatar so far this year.

* See the Top 40 All-brands Top 40 models by clicking on the title *

Consult 13 years worth of Qatar Historical Data here

New car sales in Qatar continue their descent to hell: after dropping 22% over H1 2017, it endures another 14% decline halfway through 2018 at 23.644 registrations, reduced to -10% when only accounting for the same set of manufacturers (removing the VW and BMW Group from 2017 data as they haven’t reported their sales for 2018). Toyota (-6%) continues  to reign supreme over the Qatari sales charts, even managing to improve its market share from 30.4% to 33.1% thanks to a slim drop. Reversely, Nissan (-20%) and Mitsubishi (-22%) both lose share on the remainder of the podium while Kia (-8%) resists in 4th place. But it’s Lexus (+68%) that posts the best performance near the top, gaining three spots on a year ago to now point in 5th place. Renault (+112%) up 8 ranks to #12 and Land Rover (+86%) up 5 to #9 also make waves while Hyundai (-49%), Mazda (-35%), Suzuki (-30%) and Ford (-29%) freefall. Citroen (+1167%), Peugeot (+37%) and Hino (+35%) also make themselves noticed while Chinese MG lands directly at #21.

The Toyota Land Cruiser has been #1 in Qatar each and every year since at least 2010.

Model-wise, the Toyota Land Cruiser (+1%) holds onto the top spot, gaining two percentage points of market share at 13.7% vs. 11.7% a year ago, and is now followed by its (even) more luxurious twin the Lexus LX, up a gargantuan 83% and 7 spots to #2 at 5.4% share vs. 2.5% over the same period a year ago, without a doubt thanks to the help of the top-of-the-line variant LX570 Signature. As a result, the Nissan Patrol (-20%) is knocked down one rank to #3, still making the Qatari podium 100% luxury SUV. The Toyota Hilux (-18%) and Prado (+1%) both drop one spot year-on-year to round up the Top 5, just as the Toyota Hiace (+63%) and Nissan Sunny (+61%) post the other two double-digit gains in the Top 10 and the Mitsubishi Pajero (-42%) and Lancer EX (-32%) the two largest drops. Further down, the Range Rover (+103%) Honda Accord (+92%) and Kia Picanto (+75%) also shine and the Range Rover Velar (#42) is the only recent launch (<12 months) inside the Top 50.

2005-H1 2018 All-Make and All-Models monthly data available. Contact us here for more details

Previous post: Qatar Full Year 2017: Toyota Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol dominate

One year ago: Qatar First Half 2017: Nissan Patrol and Navara shine in market down 22%

Full H1 2018 Top 40 All-brands and Top 50 models vs. Full H1 2017 figures below.