Another month with auto sales on the rise: Auto sales in May saw a 10.8% m-o-m increase to 6.3k vehicles, according to figures from the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC) seen by Enterprise. The uptick follows April’s 35.1% m-o-m increase, which saw sales rebound to 5.7k units from March’s 4.2k — the lowest number of auto sales we’ve seen since we started keeping track in January 2019.

Growth across the board: Bus sales rose 36.8% m-o-m to 450 units in May, while truck sales were up 29.4% m-o-m to just over 1k units. Passenger car sales — which accounted for 76.6% of all vehicle sales — recorded a modest increase of 5.7% m-o-m to 4.8k units.

Remember: Auto sales have been relatively volatile — but overall on the decline — for the last few years. In late 2023, auto sales fell on the back of FX shortages that limited supply in the market and gave distributors leverage to hike prices as they pleased. But over the past few months, demand has been fluctuating and in March sales fell in response to the float of the EGP, which some think led to customers adopting a wait-and-see approach in hopes of further price reductions down the line.

On a yearly basis: Auto sales were down 14.2% y-o-y in May, driven by a 35.2% y-o-y dip in bus sales and a 15.7% y-o-y in passenger car sales. Truck sales, on the other hand, increased by 10.5% compared to the same period last year.

More cars should be hitting the local market soon: The government will release all cars stuck at the country’s ports by the end of the week after the process to do so kicked off last week, an unnamed government official told Al Borsa. The official downplayed the number of the cars still stuck at the ports, saying that the reported numbers have been greatly exaggerated, and that the official figure will be announced once the vehicles are released.

But not all cars will be getting the green light to clear customs: The government decided to halt all customs clearance and pre-registration of tax-exempt vehicles for differently abled individuals for six months to put in place a new system that will prevent non-differently abled people fraudulently purchasing vehicles through the system, according to a document seen by Asharq Business. Cars for individuals with special needs account for about 25% of Egypt’s annual vehicle imports, Egyptian Automotive Dealers Association head Osama Abo El Magd told the news outlet.

Always read the small print: AMIC figures reflect data contributed by member distributors, who include most, but not all, industry participants.

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