Future looks lustrous for ME commercial vehicles

By: Zainab Mansoor

 An industry riddled with financial woes,  engineering malfunctions and dwindling consumer confidence,  finally,  appears on the road to recovery. So it seemed at the recent Commercial Vehicles Middle East event. The three-day event held in Dubai,  United Arab Emirates in March 2011,  reiterated the region's resuscitating nature of bouncing back as the industry posted good signs of recovery as reflected by a good turnout of major players and companies.

Tom Nauwelaerts,  General Manager of Al Futtaim Logistics,  said,  "The commercial vehicles market will continue to recover in the GCC and we should see growth over the next few years as a result of developments in the region. However this growth is not anticipated to be at the levels previously enjoyed for a while yet."

He added,  "Now we are witnessing an upward trend in freight movement and consumer activity. This is a positive sign for market recovery and hopefully a sustainable future direction".

Promising figures

Figures released by global motor trade data specialists,  Auto Strategies International indicated that sales for commercial vehicles,  inclusive of vans,  busses,  trucks,  pick-ups and utility vehicles for each of the GCC countries for first half of 2010 increased by 37.97 percent to 253, 790. Amongst the nations,  UAE leads the way with a sales figure of 53, 683 units,  a marked increase of 54 percent,  followed by Kuwait,  marking a sale of 12, 333 units sold during January-June 2010.

Kuwait saw an increase of 49 percent while Oman followed suite with sales increase of 41 percent.

Bahrain,  Saudi Arabia and Qatar recorded a marked elevation of 38,  29 and 24 percent respectively,  selling 6, 758,  107, 926 and 13, 781 units respectively.

Sales of regional commercial vehicles peaked in 2008,  with a figure of 722, 619 units. Recovery has not matched up to the pre-recessionary times but the recent bout of activity has left a wave of optimism in the industry,  suggesting hope and positivity.

Alex Borg,  Regional Coordinator for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport International,  said,  "The market is recovering slowly but surely. We may need three or four years to reach the heights of 2008 pre-recession. The local and international market is still fragile,  but should recover fully in time."

The U.S. car manufacturer,  Ford,  revealed its 2011 first quarter results,  suggesting that GCC witnessed a marked sales increase of 52 percent,  compared to last year,  while UAE alone experienced a sales growth figure of 32 percent vis-à-vis first quarter 2010. Passenger cars grew at 58 percent,  while utility vehicles and trucks grew at 20 percent. Ford Mustang,  Fusion and Taurus remained its star performers as growth was mainly spurred by demand in its Ford and Lincoln range.

"In the UAE,  we basically tripled our pace by three times the industry growth. The industry growth was around 12 percent in the UAE,  we have done 32 percent, " said Hussein Murad,  Director of sales for Ford Middle East.

Murad further suggested that the growing trajectory of oil prices would hopefully have a positive impact on the sales figures within the GCC arena as more liquidity would be pumped in the system over the next few quarters.

With considerable upheavals in Bahrain and Egypt,  the company picked up considerable growth from Saudi Arabia,  UAE and Kuwait,  due to their financial stability,  growing population and demographics.

Incentives bring about growth Runners Alliance