Kuwait purchased 113,000 vehicles in 2022
- Kuwait is a country located between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which has nearly 3 million inhabitants. The automobile market represents on average between 100,000 and 150,000 new vehicles each year. In 2022, it reached 113,000 units, compared to 101,500 in 2021 and 75,000 in 2020, a year marked by the Covid-19 crisis. The year 2022 returns to the level of the years just before the Covid crisis, such as 2019 (110,000 sales).
- However, this figure still represents only 75% of the previous peak with more than 150,000 units reached in 2015. Like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Kuwaiti automobile market depends on fluctuating oil prices, since Kuwait depends much of the production and sale of oil. The more prices increase, the richer the country is and can import and buy new vehicles. The more prices fall, the more the automobile market collapses. This is the situation observed between 2015 and 2020.
- The composition of the market by brand has remained the same for several years, with a strong presence of Japanese brands, but the Chinese MG belonging to the SAIC group is progressing strongly, moving from 10th place in 2021 to 7th position in 2022, practically doubling its sales in one year.
- The best-selling model in 2022 is the Toyota Prado SUV, with 10,072 units (8.9% of the market) ahead of the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV (7,131 units). Toyota places seven models in the Top 15 by model last year, which places the carmaker as the big leader in the Kuwaiti market in 2022 (with 36.5% of the market).