It is well known that German automotive technologies and engineering are popular in the UAE, with the models offered by carmakers such as Volkswagen (VW), Mercedes-Benz, Audi, BMW and Porsche, being extremely sought after in the luxury sector. While not leading the 300,000-a-year car market in the UAE, German cars are definitely at the forefront of the luxury segment, a steadily expanding niche.
The increasing demand has led to German car manufacturers serving the market with new models and facelifts in the past — some models have even had their regional unveiling in the UAE. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and VW hold the greatest market share among German carmakers, with Audi catching up not just in the UAE, but all over the Middle East.
Constant expansion
“Our focus this year is on improving our capacities and quality in terms of sales and after-sales services across the region,” Trevor Hill, Managing Director at Audi Middle East, tells GN Focus. “In terms of sales, we registered a 20 per cent increase across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the Levant to 5,130 vehicles, in the first half of this year. For the whole year, we are expecting to cross the 10,000-units-per-annum threshold for the first time. So it’s been a good year so far,” he says.
Audi is a well-received brand, especially in the sports car sector, and the carmaker knows how to tap this customer segment in the region. “We’ve had several new launches this year, all of them very sporty — the new Audi RS 4 Avant, our first estate model, the new R8 range and the RS 5 Cabriolet. At the upcoming Dubai Motor Show, we will present a further three regional premieres,” adds Hill.
The company is on an expansion drive in the UAE, with seven major projects. Al Nabooda Automobiles continues its massive expansion in Dubai and the northern emirates with construction on a new Audi service centre in Al Quoz starting later this year. The Audi terminal in Sharjah and a new showroom in Fujairah are planned to open later this year. Both feature sales and service facilities. The company is also expanding its parts distribution centre in Jebel Ali by 6,000 square metres.
Higher stakes
BMW has stepped up its game with a 22 per cent increase in sales in the first half of this year, compared to the same period in 2012, throughout the Middle East and recorded 12,657 newly delivered vehicles. The UAE remained the highest-volume selling market for BMW in the Middle East, accounting for 49 per cent of BMW and Mini regional sales in the first half of 2013, followed by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. The Dubai market alone grew by 23 per cent, says Joerg Breuer, Managing Director of BMW Group Middle East.
The BMW 5-Series remained the bestselling vehicle in the Middle East, and the BMW 7-Series retained its lead in the luxury sedan segment, with sales growing at 8 per cent and 22 per cent in the region over the period, respectively.
“The BMW 7-Series continues to be a market leader in the luxury sedan segment across the region,” Breuer says. “The success of the launch of the latest-generation BMW 7-Series late last year has continued into the first six months of this year, and we are confident that it will continue to contribute to the future of our group’s accelerating sales,” he adds.
For the love of G-Class
Mercedes-Benz Middle East and Levant has announced 2012 was its best-ever year so far and attributed record sales results to its SUV and AMG models. Figures for this year haven’t been released yet. Regional sales were up 16.7 per cent over 2011, with 15 consecutive months of double-digit growth. The Stuttgart-based carmaker’s high-performance AMG division also reported its best-ever annual results, surpassing its 2011 sales by 80 per cent. SUV sales increased by 38 per cent on 2011, as the region’s love affair with the G-Class continued to grow.
Mercedes-Benz dealer Gargash Enterprises says approximately 5,000 units were sold in 2012, and adds that the year clearly belonged to the SUV range, as more than 1,300 units were sold, a 42-per-cent increase over 2011. The jump in SUV sales can be attributed to the launch of the ML SUV during the first quarter and the recently launched GL SUV, says Karl-Johan Sandesjo, General Manager at Gargash Enterprises.
The latest highlight for Mercedes-Benz was the unveiling of the new S-Class this July, which is deemed the world’s bestselling luxury car. The S500 with GCC specification costs Dh485,000. Wassim Derbi, Marketing Manager at Gargash Enterprises, says more than 64,000 V220 and V221 models of the S-Class have been sold in the Middle East since its inception. The S-Class has been the flagship model for Mercedes-Benz for more than 50 years with its multiple variations, he adds.
Steady increase
Sales are also high for Volkswagen Middle East. The largest German carmaker reported a 32 per cent increase in deliveries during the first half of this year. Its bestselling cars included the Touareg, Tiguan, Passat and Jetta.
“Despite challenging global market conditions, we are experiencing a steady increase in the Middle East,” says Thomas Milz, Managing Director of Volkswagen Middle East.
“In addition to our bestselling Touareg and the extremely popular Tiguan and Passat, the addition of the much-anticipated seventh-generation Golf and Golf GTI to our model line-up has also contributed to this growth,” he adds.
As for Porsche, the sports carmaker announced that sales in the Middle East and Africa in the first six months of 2013 were up by more than 50 per cent, compared to the same period in 2012. The company delivered 6,069 new Porsches across the region, wherein the UAE accounts for more than a quarter of total regional sales. In Abu Dhabi alone, sales in the first half of 2013 were seen to have more than doubled.
The bestseller in the region was the Porsche Cayenne with 3,675 vehicles sold, a 55 per cent increase on the same period in 2012. Porsche also reshuffled the management of Porsche Middle East in July and appointed Christer Ekberg, who previously headed Porsche Asia-Pacific, as Managing Director for the region.
