Bahrain’s vehicle market in September 2023 falls for the second month in a row, reporting 2,041 new registrations (-8.3%). YTD figures at 20,234 are up 6.9% from the prior year.
Market Trend and Outlook
Bahrain’s vehicle market in September 2023 falls for the second month in a row, reporting 2,041 new registrations (-8.9%). YTD figures at 20,234 are up 6.9% from the previous year.
Looking at cumulative data up to September 2023 brand-wise, the leader is still Toyota with a 14.5% growth in sales while holding 30.1% market share, followed by Hyundai which grew 40.3%. Nissan ranks in 3rd spot with a 20.8% year-on-year loss in sales.
The best selling car becomes the Toyota Land Cruiser up 1 spot and 38.0% in year-on-year sales, followed by the Isuzu D-Max up 108 spots in the rankings.
Medium-Term Market Trend
The economic crisis correlated with the fall of oil price in the international market hit the Bahrain automotive industry in 2016, with a delay compared with the other countries in the Gulf region. Indeed the market scored the all-time record in 2015, with 65,042 sales, before a sharp decline to 38,000 units in 2017.
In 2018 the market was flat while in 2019 it was again in a deep fall.
Indeed, in 2019 the economy was further hit by the government’s decision to introduce VAT tax from January 2019, with the effect to increase inflation and reduce consumer purchase power. Several consumer goods industries have declined and the automotive was certainly among them. Indeed, in the Full-year sales have been 31,836, down 18.1%.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic sales fell in 2020. In fact, 26,437 units have been sold, reporting a decline of 16.9% compared to 2019.
In 2021 the year started slightly negatively for the Bahrain market, in fact, in Q1 7,251 units have been sold, reporting a 1.5% decrease in sales compared to Q1 2020, while in Q2 sales started growing again, reporting a 23.8% increase in sales with 6,428 units sold.
In Q3 sales kept gaining 7.7% with 6,428 units, followed by a 8% drop in Q4 with 7,227 sales.
Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2021 have been 27,528, reporting a 3.7% increase compared to 2020.
In Q1 2022 sales dropped 16.7% with 5,853 units sold, but started recovering 3.2% in Q2 with 6,483 units sold.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for Top 10 Brands.
