CAR sales fell 16 per cent last year as buyers stayed away from showrooms because of the strong yen which made Japanese-made automobiles more expensive.
Data from the Brunei Automobile Traders Association showed car sales last year totalled 12,360 including both passenger and commercial vehicles against 14,731 the year before.
But some car distributors saw sales rise in December, compared with sales in November.
An industry insider credited the increase to vehicles released in December.
“Most car distributors would see a slight decrease in sales mainly due to most people spending their money on the holidays, which is the typical cycle for the car industry in Brunei,” he said. He added that with the year-end bonus released at the end of December, distributors are likely to see sales increase this month.
NBT (B) Sdn Bhd, the sole distributor of Toyota vehicles, led the market with 3,717 passenger and commercial vehicles sold. NBT dominated the automobile market with a 30 per cent market share.
In December, the Toyota distributor sold 142 units of top seller Toyota Vios, outselling all other car distributors.
In the second place with a market share of 10 per cent is Boustead, sole distributor of Suzuki vehicles. The firm sold 1,192 units for the year.
In December, total passenger vehicles sold was 90 units, with Suzuki Swift, the Suzuki SX4 and the Suzuki Grand Vitara being the top selling.
Third place was normally held between Goh Hock Kee Motors, distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles, and Setia Motors, sole distributor of Hyundai vehicles, but Hyundai vehicles grabbed the third spot with 961 units sold for the year, or eight per cent of the total automobile market.
Mitsubishi also cornered eight per cent but it lost to Hyundai by one unit.
A total of 960 units of Mitsubishi vehicles were sold last year.
In the luxury vehicle segment of the market, Jati Transport, sole distributor of Mercedes, ended the year leading the luxury segment, with 274 units sold. QAF Auto, sole distributor of BMW, with 215 units sold was in second place.
TCY Motors, sole distributor of Audi vehicles, claimed third place with 72 units sold in 2009.
Industry experts are looking at a difficult year ahead, with very few distributors seeing a large hike in sales. “Japanese cars will not increase drastically. Most distributors will still be seeing the same amount of car sales figures as we have seen this year; even if there is an increase, the most is maybe a five per cent increase, at best,” said an industry insider in a previous article.
“The Japanese yen is still very high so car prices won’t decrease and on top of that we are competing with second-hand car dealers,” he said.
The luxury segment is also projecting a difficult year with the rise in the euro-dollar exchange rate affecting the prices of continental vehicles in Brunei. “It will be more difficult because now the euro-dollar (exchange rate) is up so the prices of European cars will be more expensive and with the new models coming in we have to maintain that the models have a premium price,” said Clement Chong, sales and marketing manager of QAF Auto Sdn Bhd, in a previous article.
“We will be trying to secure 230 units for next year and we are positive in that. However, the challenges will be the same that we are faced every year,” he said. He said less than 15 per cent of the Brunei population can afford luxury and high-end vehicles and at the moment they are reluctant to spend. The Brunei Times
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