With a 20% price increase over neighboring countries, the car crisis in Qatar is exacerbating, and agencies and showrooms are in the dock
February 08, 2023, 07:36 pm
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Doha – Al Sharq website
Experts confirmed that the car crisis in the Qatari market is due to the scarcity in the manufacture of electronic chips that complement the global vehicle industry, and some of it is due to the practices of local agencies that adopt practices that destabilize the market, prompting many to direct criticism of the managements of these agencies.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Thani, an expert in automotive affairs, said – in statements to the Economics Pulse program on Qatar TV – that the scarcity is not in the car industry itself, as it comes out of production lines, but there is a scarcity in chips and car services, i.e. the electronic needs of cars.
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He explained that the problems are not in manufacturing, but affected the mines, as they stopped during the Corona period, and the expected recovery in that industry was affected by the global economic factor.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Thani said: I do not blame the owner of the showroom because he is a merchant, but the blame lies with the agencies that have become allocating the bulk of their cars to some showroom owners, indicating that there is a problem in the market and unjustified high prices, so you buy a car and pay for it from 60 to 70 thousand riyals in excess of its price in order to reserve it.
He added that there are practices from agencies that seem to be legal practices, but they are not appropriate for them. Some of these companies deal with their customers in an unprofessional manner, and you may reserve the car for delivery after two months, then you will be surprised that you receive it after 7 months, and the receipt may be delayed so that someone else can receive it.
For his part, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Al-Najjar, owner of the Kit Motors showroom, said that there is no doubt that there is a car crisis globally, but it was exploited locally by some showroom owners associated with the agencies or from the agencies themselves.
Al-Najjar added that the prices of cars in Qatar differ from some neighboring countries by 15-20% from some neighboring countries.
For his part, Mr. Khaled Hamad Al-Rumaithi, an expert in automotive affairs, explained that the Corona crisis was the beginning of the emergence of the automotive industry crisis, and upon recovery from this crisis, the car factories introduced clauses to cancel contracts due to a global crisis.
He pointed out that the manufacture of some parts takes 3 months, and after recovering from Corona, the Russian-Ukrainian war came, which affected the manufacture of some parts and car accessories and caused a crisis of scarcity of parts and shipping, and increased prices.
Mr. Abdulsalam Al-Baridi, Director of Training at Al-Fardan Automotive, said that some international semi-transportation companies suffer from covering the existing demand, which caused delays in car manufacturers, and affected productivity and demand coverage in global markets.
