Kuwait Q1 2020: Toyota up to 37.4% share, MG (+32.3%) breaks into Top 10, sales down -20.3%

The MG RX8 is the most popular new launch in Kuwait so far in 2020.

New car sales in Kuwait tumble down -20.3% year-on-year over the First Quarter of 2020 to 21.987 units. Brand leader Toyota (-5.9%) resists much better than the market and improves its share by almost six percentage points to 37.4%. That’s over 4 times the #2, Nissan (-49.9%) in total perdition and posting the steepest fall in the Top 12. Mitsubishi (-11.2%) and Kia (-17.3%) also resist just below, while Honda (+10.6%) is the only gainer in the Top 5. MG (+32.3%) steps up 3 spots on Q1 2019 to break into the Kuwaiti Top 10 for the first time with 2.3% share. Ford (-8.7%), Hyundai (-17%) and Lexus (-18.9%) also lose less ground than the market in the remainder of the Top 10 but Chevrolet (-41.2%) freefalls. Further down, Volvo (+423.1%), Changan (+128.3%), Peugeot (+90.1%), Geely (+55.6%), Acura (+34.1%), Ram (+17.4%) and Dodge (+4.4%) all swim upstream with year-on-year upticks.

Model-wise, the Toyota Prado (+20.2%) reclaims the pole position off the Toyota Land Cruiser (+5.5%) which interrupted 8 consecutive years of Prado reign in 2019. The Toyota Camry (-6.7%) becomes the best-selling sedan in the country, outstripping the Nissan Sunny (-69.2%) while the Mitsubishi Pajero (+1.1%) is up 3 spots on its year-ago ranking to #5. The Toyota RAV4 (+75.2%) scores the largest gain in the Top 10, up 17 spots to #10 while the Ford F-Series (+3.5%) is the only remaining Top 10 nameplate in positive. Below, the Honda HR-V (+260%), Hyundai Sonata (+235.3%) and Toyota Rush (+173%) also post spectacular gains. The MG RX8 (#54) and MG HS (#55) are the best-selling recent launches in Bahrain above the Kia Telluride (#67), Geely Coolray aka Binyue (#71), Kia Seltos (#76) and Chevrolet Blazer (#80).

January 2005 – March 2020 All-Makes and Top 275 All-Models monthly/annual data also available. Please contact us here with your request.

Previous post: Kuwait Full Year 2019: Toyota Land Cruiser ends 8 years of Prado domination in strong market (+9.7%)

Full Q1 2020 Top 35 All-brands and Top 80 models vs. Q1 2019 figures below.