Riyadh Motor Show fuels hope among vehicle retailers

RIYADH: This week’s Riyadh Motor Show has given hope to car retailers.
Although it is usually an annual event, the last show was in 2012.
“There was not much interest from different companies to participate” in the intervening years,” said Alaa Aboumerhi, general manager of marketing for Hyundai Wallan, Saudi distributors for the South Korean brand.
Hyundai sedans are on display alongside rivals including Japan’s Toyota, China’s Chery and US brands Chevrolet and GMC at the four-day event which began on Tuesday night.
European luxury brands are absent from the show, which is targeted at the average buyer and takes up just one section of a Riyadh convention center. Much of the hall is devoted to auto accessories.
Saudi media described the exhibition space as several times smaller than at the previous show.
Retailers in the Kingdom in general are complaining of lower sales and residents say they have less money to spend.
Recent economic cutbacks will be accompanied by a drop in automobile sales this year, Aboumerhi said.
“As for Hyundai, we are still maintaining our market share,” with sales of about 50,000 units per year which places it second in the Saudi market, he said.
The motor show, which the organizers said drew an estimated 10,000 visitors on the opening day, is a chance for dealers to show off their latest models and to even take orders.
On-site bankers are ready to help with financing.
“The economy, it’s not really good,” said Hassan Abdulaziz, manning the Toyota display which included a Hilux diesel pickup truck that sells for 104,000 riyals ($27,733).
Around him, Saudi visitors lifted bonnets and sat in the driver’s seats.
Marketing student Waleed Mubarak sounded optimistic about the Kingdom’s prospects as he looked for a new car with a budget of SR150,000.
“There’s no problem with the economy now in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
Another visitor, Abdullah Bajabar, wasn’t so sure.
Having just returned from several years in Canada, he said he needs a car even though “the economic situation is difficult.”
Other visitors seemed more interested in filming themselves and the vehicles, which included monster trucks and a yellow sports car slung so low it seemed to touch the floor.
A young Saudi man in Western clothes preened in a convertible while taking a selfie.
Across the aisle, a DJ spun hip hop tunes beside a display of colored wheel rims and a vintage Chevrolet.
Jeddah will next month host the annual Saudi International Motor Show, the Kingdom’s largest.
Organizers of that event say Saudi Arabia is the Middle East’s biggest importer of vehicles and auto parts.
A car remains essential for getting around Saudi cities criss-crossed by multi-lane highways, where public transit projects are under development but not yet finished.