Auto sales fall for the first time in five months in August

Auto sales take a dip in August: Auto sales in August dropped 12% m-o-m to record 10k vehicles, down from 11.4k in July, according to figures from the Automotive Marketing Information Council (AMIC) seen by Enterprise. This marks the first fall in total vehicle sales after four consecutive months of monthly increases following a 43% m-o-m drop in March that saw the sale of just 4.2k vehicles — the lowest number of auto sales we’ve seen since we started keeping track in January 2019.

(Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links to our background as well as external sources.)

The decline was driven by car and bus sales: Passenger car sales registered a 14.4% m-o-m decline to 8.3k units. Buse sales fell to 604 vehicles from the 643 recorded in July. Meanwhile, truck sales were up, rising to 1.1k from 1.0k in July.

On a yearly basis: Auto sales in August came in 25% higher than the 8k units sold during the same month last year. The growth was driven by a 33.9% y-o-y increase in car sales and a 22.0% y-o-y rise in bus sales. Truck sales took a 16.3% tumble y-o-y.

Don’t forget the fine print: AMIC figures reflect data contributed by member distributors, who include most, but not all, industry participants.

INDUSTRY INSIDERS WEIGH IN-

A sharp decline in car imports is a big part of the issue: The drop in sales was driven by the decline in imported cars entering the country and insufficient numbers of locally assembled cars, the head of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce's auto division Nour Darwish told Enterprise.

ICYMI: While the government in August reportedly lifted import restrictions on 12 of 13non-essentialgoods it had previously prohibited banks from issuing credit lines for, cars remained the one non-essential goods that banks were not able to issue a credit line for. Industry players have attempted to work around restrictions via proposals for a 10k monthly car import quota, while the government has recently taken steps to resume the issuance of ACID numbers — a unique ID number that importers obtain for their shipments — for car dealerships and diplomats.

High prices are also playing a role: While the fall in car imports is a key factor in declining vehicle sales, their high price point is likely the most important reason for the fall in overall sales, said Khaled Saad, head of the Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Economy cars — which make up 70% of market demand, according to Saad — have recently seen prices rise to between EGP 800k and EGP 1 mn — up from EGP 200k to 400k only a few years ago.

Banks are reluctant to finance car purchases: One piece of the puzzle is that lenders are increasingly leery of offering the auto loans that once supported the market, Saad said. This comes down to the disjunction between current prices and high interest rates, on the one hand, and stagnation in average incomes, on the other.