Oman January-May 2019: Toyota Land Cruiser reclaims lead in continued market slump (-15.9%)

The Toyota Land Cruiser is back to pole position in Oman.

Unlike other markets in the region, Omani new light vehicle sales had not slowed down their fall in 2018 at -14.9%. The freefall continues in 2019 at -15.9% to 43.051 sales over the first 5 months of the year. One explanation for this continued slump is the fact that prior to 2017, new car registrations in Oman tended to be used by dealerships on cars later exported to other markets in the region. There has been a crackdown on this practice over the past two years, logically resulting in a particularly depressed Omani market. Toyota (-11.7%) manages to contain its drop somewhat, as a result crossing the symbolic 50% market share milestone at 50.6% vs. 48.2% a year ago. In contrast, #2 Nissan (-41.4%) totally implodes and goes from 23.6% to 16.4%. The smaller brands are a lot more dynamic, with Infiniti (+162.2%), Renault (+136.8%), Lexus (+16.4%), Hyundai (+14.1%) and Mazda (+4.3%) all ignoring the surrounding gloom to post upticks in the Top 10.

The Toyota Land Cruiser (-5.4%) reclaims the pole position it lost over the Full Year 2018 to the Nissan Patrol (-49.8%) down to #3 this year with the Toyota Hilux (-15.8%) sandwiched between the two. Below the Toyota Land Cruiser Pickup (-15.7%), the Toyota Fortuner (+8.9%) is the only Top 5 nameplate in positive in Oman. The Toyota Corolla (+10.2%), Camry (+1.6%) and Yaris (+1.2%) also manage a lift in the Top 10. Beyond, the Infiniti QX80 (+424.5%), Hyundai Sonata (+95.5%), Elantra (+69.7%), Mazda6 (+37%) and Lexus LX (+30%) make themselves noticed. The Toyota Rush (#39) is the most popular new launch ahead of the Toyota Ace (#40).

January 2005 – May 2019 All-Makes and All-Models monthly and annual data also available for Oman. Contact us here for more details.

Previous post: Oman Full Year 2018: Nissan Patrol pips Toyota Land Cruiser for #1 in market down -14.9%

One year ago: Oman First Half 2018: Nissan Patrol snaps top spot in market down 14%

Full January-May 2019 Top 35 All-brands and Top 50 All-models below.