Qatar Full Year 2018: Toyota Land Cruiser hits highest share this decade, Lexus LX up to world-best #2

Lexus LX sales in Qatar are up 19.3% to #2 overall.

Consult 15 years of Qatar Historical Data here.

After freefalling 26% in 2016 and 29.3% in 2017, the Qatari new car market endures a third consecutive double-digit drop in 2018 albeit at a much more manageable -10.7% to 45.653 units. Toyota (-2.9%) resists much better than the market and improves its share to 34.6%, widening the gap with 2nd-placed Nissan (-15.7%) at 15.2% and Mitsubishi (-11.3%) at 8.1%. Kia (-6.8%) remains in 4th place but both Lexus (+20.9%) and Chevrolet (+1.5%) post market-defying gains to leapfrog past Hyundai (-47.6%) in great difficulty. In fact, it’s Land Rover (+74%) and Suzuki (+51.8%) that post the largest gains in the Top 10. Further down, Citroen (+1200%), Renault (+100.4%), Jaguar (+37.7%), Peugeot (+22.5%), Hino (+20.9%) and Jeep (+11.9%) also shine while Chinese MG makes a remarkable entrance directly inside the Top 20 brands at #19.

As it has been the case every single year this decade, the Toyota Land Cruiser (+2.6%) is the best-selling vehicle in Qatar for 2018, even swimming upstream with a year-on-year gain to improve its share by almost two percentage points to 14.4%, its highest share this decade. Its (even) more luxurious twin, the Lexus LX (+19.3%) does even better and leaps up two spots on 2017 to land in 2nd place overall, its highest ranking anywhere in the world. The Nissan Patrol (-21.2%) and Toyota Hilux (-10.9%) are knocked down to #3 and #4 respectively, while the Nissan Sunny (+81.4%) is up 7 spots to round out the Top 5. The Toyota Hiace (+42.9%) is the only additional Top 10 nameplate in positive when the Mitsubishi Pajero (-32.3%) and Lancer (-20.8%) are hit full frontal. Below, the Range Rover is up 26 spots to #20, the Suzuki Swift DZire up 118 to #24 and the Range Rover Sport up 23 to #33. The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (#59) is the best-selling 2018 launch ahead of the Toyota Rush (#75), MG 360 (#80) and MG RX5 (#85).

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

Previous post: Qatar January-October 2018: Land Cruiser, Lexus LX and Patrol lead

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

Two years ago: Qatar Full Year 2016: Toyota Land Cruiser towers above competition

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