Market Trend and Outlook

Yemen’s light vehicle market in September 2023  grows for the 11th consecutive month, with new sales at 1,195 (+70.7%). YTD figures at 9,488 are up 70.7% from the previous year.

Looking at cumulative data up to September 2023 brand-wise, the leader Toyota reports a 20.4% growth in sales while holding 66.2% market share, followed by MG –up 7 spots- with 29.4% market share. Hyundai rises into 5th spot with an 156.3% boom in registrations.

Medium-Term Market Trend

The market collapsed in the past years. From the 14,696 vehicles sold in 2013, the industry dropped to only 3,025 in 2016, before showing a little recovery in 2017, mainly in the second half, with 3,938 units. In 2018 improved for the second consecutive year, ending with sales up 37.8% at 5,231 units.

In 2019, the market started improving at an outstanding pace. Indeed, the Full-year ended with registrations at 8,483, booming 62.2%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic sales fell in  2020. In fact, 5,276 units have been sold, reporting a decline of 37.8% compared to 2019.

The collapse wasn’t due to structural problems in the market, in fact, it boomed 61.2% in 2021, reporting 8,507 new yearly sales. The market stabilized in 2022 with sales dropping merely 2.3% totaling 8,274 light vehicle registrations.

Market Trend and Outlook

Yemen’s light vehicle market in 2022 totaled 8,274 new sales, a 2.3% loss from the previous year. December grew for the second month in a row, with 223 new registrations (+236.8%).

Looking at cumulative data from 2022 brand-wise, the leader Toyota reports an 11.1% decrease in sales while holding 85.9% market share, followed by MG which holds 8.5% market share. Hyundai reported the best performance, gaining 94.9%.

Market Trend

The Yemeni car market this year attempted to recover from the pandemic crash of 2020 and reported a very promising performance all year, growing in very quickly in Q2, Q3 and Q4.

The market collapsed in the past years. From the 14,696 vehicles sold in 2013, the industry dropped to only 3,025 in 2016, before showing a little recovery in 2017, mainly in the second half, with 3,938 units. In 2018 improved for the second consecutive year, ending with sales up 37.8% at 5,231 units.

In 2019, the market started improving at an outstanding pace. Indeed, the Full-year ended with registrations at 8,483, booming 62.2%.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic sales fell in  2020. In fact, 5,276 units have been sold, reporting a decline of 37.8% compared to 2019.

In 2021 the year started positively for the Yemeni market, in fact, in Q1 1,975 units have been sold, reporting a 5.8% increase in sales compared to Q1 2020, while in Q2 growth accelerated, reporting a 73.1% increase in sales with 2,405 units due to the incredibly low sales volume registered in Q2 2020.

In Q3 sales rose 134.7% with 2,469 units sold, and in Q4 sales increased by 71.3% with 1,658 units sold.

Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2021 have been 8,507, reporting a 61.2% increase compared to 2020.

Brand-wise, this year the leader Toyota (+57.3%) lost 2.3% market share, at 94.4% market share, followed by Land Rover with 2.1% share, and Suzuki which gained 0.4% share, rising 161.1%. 

The most sold vehicle this year is the Toyota Hilux (+114.2%) with 3,700 units sold, followed by the Toyota Land Cruiser (+0.8%) registering 1.984 new sales this year. The Toyota Land Cruiser P/U (+191.7%) closes the podium and reports 1,485 new units sold.

Tables with sales figures

In the tables below we report sales for top 7 brands.

Market Trend

The Yemeni car market has been severely hit in 2020 by the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic and by social and political instability within the country.

The market collapsed in the past years. From the 14.696 vehicles sold in 2013, the industry dropped to only 3.025 in 2016, before showing a little recovery in 2017, mainly in the second half, with 3.938 units. In 2018 improved for the second consecutive year, ending with sales up 37.8% at 5.231 units.

In 2019, the market started improving at an outstanding pace. Indeed, the Full-year ended with registrations at 8.483, booming 62.2%.

After starting the year with a positive trend (+11.5%), unfortunately, January was the only positive month of the year. The market started falling severely in April (-33.2%), and dropped by 56.7% in May before recovering effectively in June (-1.8%). 

In the second half of the year the market did not recover, in fact, the situation got even worse and reached its lowest point in October (-81.3%). Every month reported a double-digit drop in sales.

Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2020 have been 5.276, reporting a decline of 37.8% compared to 2019.

Brand-wise, this year the leader Toyota (-36.8%) gained 2.2% market share, reaching an incredible 96.8% market share, followed by Hyundai (-8.7%), which gained 0.4% share, and Lexus which gained 0.1% share, falling 31.4%.  Suzuki on the other hand grew by 227.3%, gaining 0.6% share.

The most sold vehicle this year remains the Toyota Land Cruiser (-56.5%) with 1.968 units sold, followed by the Toyota Hilux (+1.1%) registering 1.727 new sales this year. The Toyota Land Cruiser P/U (-40.7%) closes the podium and reports 509 new units sold.