The Arab Gulf car market swiftly came unstuck when the financial crisis washed over the region in late 2008. Fearful banks and wary consumers combined to cause vehicle sales to plunge to unfamiliar lows for the previously ebullient region.
The downturn was readily apparent in the number of unsold cars that piled up at ports around the Gulf, and the deluge of used vehicles that popped up in newspaper and online classified advertisements.
Overall, car sales declined 22 per cent in the Gulf last year, according to estimates by Arabian Automobiles, a leading Dubai-based car dealership owned by the Rostamani family. The wider Middle East fared better, but sales contracted for the first time in at least seven years, by more than 8 per cent to 1m vehicles, according to industry estimates.
However, carmakers and dealerships are now reporting that sales have started to rebound from the lows of last year.
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