Bucking the global recession, the Saudi luxury car market is booming. A number of luxury cars selling for over one million dollars have been launched in Saudi Arabia, a sign that the kingdom’s automobile market continues to avoid the effects of the global recession. Pagani Automobiles, maker of one of the world’s most expensive ‘super [...]
Bucking the global recession, the Saudi luxury car market is booming.
A number of luxury cars selling for over one million dollars have been launched in Saudi Arabia, a sign that the kingdom’s automobile market continues to avoid the effects of the global recession.
Pagani Automobiles, maker of one of the world’s most expensive ‘super cars’, has sent a $1.6 million Pagani Zonda to the Saudi capital, Riyadh. It joins several luxury European makes launching ‘super car’ models in Saudi Arabia, including the Swedish Koenigsegg, which sells at $1.2 million and the Dutch Spyker, which costs $265,000 and the German Wiesmann, whose models sell for between $160,000 and $265,000. Al these cars can be found at “The Premium” showroom at Althabab St. cross King Abdulazziz St.
Alberto Giovanelli, Pagani Automobiles’ Sales and Marketing Manager, said the resilience of the Saudi economy in the face of the global recession encouraged the company to send their specialty cars to the kingdom.
“The market in Saudi is one of the strongest at the moment,” he told The Media Line. “We had an opportunity to team up with a strong local Saudi company and Pagani is spreading our dealership network throughout the globe. This is just one step in our strategy.”
Pagani produces just 20 highly specialized luxury sports cars each year. Inspired by jet fighters, the Pagani Zonda features a Mercedes-Benz engine and a circular four pipe exhaust.
“Our production capacity is most of the time not filling the demand,” Giovanelli said, explaining that the company has been unaffected by the global economic slowdown. “We are still a workshop-style company. We are planning to expand in 2011 but the marketplace needs to be ready to except a higher quantity of cars.”
Pagani sent one vehicle to Riyadh for the launch, and plans to send more vehicles throughout the year.
“There is someone interested in the car,” Giovanelli said of the first Pagani vehicle sent. “But the deal is still in the pipeline.”
One of the Middle East’s largest car markets, automobile sales make up about 3% of Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product.
Following overstated fears that the global recession might seriously weaken the Arab world’s largest economy, Saudi car sales are now expected to boom. The kingdom’s car market, including both commercial automobiles and transport infrastructure, is currently worth about $9 billion. The market is expected to grow by 30% in 2010.
Over 675,000 cars are expected to be sold in 2010 to a population of just under 25 million.
Saudi Arabia has long had a taste for expensive cars, and spottings of young Saudis cruising the streets of Jeddah and Riyadh in Maseratis, Ferraris, Porsches and Harley Davidson motorbikes are increasingly commonplace.
“It’s not surprising,” Ahmed Egal, CEO of AOST Inc. in Saudi Arabia, told The Media Line. “We are talking about the super super super rich. These people are not affected like average people by the recession.”
“In my view, over time the ownership of the companies that manufacture these luxury vehicles will eventually move to this part of the world,” he said. “This is where the money and the market are still healthy and growing.”
“There is a car culture in this part of the world,” Egal continued. “So many ways of expressing identity that are available to youth in the rest of the world are not available to youth here. Cars is one of the ways they can express themselves, so from age 15 ownership of a car is the first thing young guys aim for. That culture will just grow and grow.”
Paul Martin, the co-founder of Street Kings Arabia, a Saudi luxury car fan club, said the types of Saudis interested in luxury vehicles had not been hit heavily by the recession.
“When you’re rich, you’re rich, and the economy here has not been very affected,” he told The Media Line. “It’s fairly protected because of the oil wealth.”
“They are also a little more conservative than other oil states,” Martin added. “They don’t spend a lot of the money on huge skyscrapers. They are doing things the slow way and the right way to maintain their economic stability, so wealthy Saudis still have quite a bit of expendable income.” (via themedialine.org)
Leave Your Response