Seventy of the latest luxury cars worth over SR80 million have been showcased by 20 of their importers and dealers at an exhibition opened by Mufraah Al-Zahrani, director of roads in the Ministry of Transport, at the Jeddah Hilton on Tuesday. The three-day annual show is the fourth edition of EXCS International Exhibition for Luxury Cars, described as the first of its kind in the Middle East.
“This is by far the most luxurious cars (all 2011 models) on view and shows how the manufacturers are keeping pace with the improving lifestyle of upscale market consumers,” a visibly impressed Al-Zahrani remarked during a tour of the exhibition.
The sport car segment, which is exhibited for the first time in the Middle East, is proving to be a big attraction. The annual exhibition is being held alternately in Riyadh and Jeddah, with the inaugural one held in the capital in 2007.
“In spite of the international financial crisis, the Saudi economy has remained buoyant and this exhibition is in response to the market trend and increasing demand for luxury cars. All exhibitors are from the luxury car segment and visitors have an opportunity to view them discuss their technologies with experts under one roof. In fact, some of the exhibits have never been showcased anywhere in the region before, including the fastest one acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records,” Abdullah Al-Shamasi of EXCS said.
The Kingdom remains the largest market for cars in the region accounting for 50 percent of total sales in the Gulf, 60 percent of them in the luxury segment worth over SR30 billion. A total of 500 luxurious cars were sold during 2009 in spite of the international financial crisis, he added.
The luxury car segment is, however, showing up after a slowdown caused by the world credit crunch, Mamdouh Khayyat, managing director of Fast Auto Technic Co. Ltd. which deals in Maserati cars said. “We sold nine Maseratis in 2006, 54 in 2007 and 138 in 2008, but in 2009 our sales were back to the 2007 level due to the economic slowdown. This year, we expect the market to improve by 15 percent against 50 percent loss in 2009,” he added.
Pagani Automobili CEO and Founder Horacio Pagani, who was with Lamborghini for nine years before starting his own venture in 1999, told a press conference that he found the Saudi market promising for his car whose price is much more than some of the luxury cars made in Italy. “Our cars are built entirely in-house at our facility in Italy,” Pagani said. “On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ‘Frecce Tricolori’, Pagani Atomobili created the Zonda Tricolori as a tribute to the National Aerobatic Team,” he added.
Farouk Al-Sagher, national sales director, Mercedes-Benz Car Group-Juffali Automotive Co., introducing the latest CL and R models of Mercedes-Benz, told a press conference that the market for them was “quite good” going by the track record of sales in the past. “The market ups and downs in the past few years have not affected Mercedes-Benz cars which remain in good demand,” he added.
The latest models of Aston Martin, Lexus, Audi, Infiniti, BMW, Hyundai, Porsche, Chevrolet, Ford Mustang, Lincoln and Cadillac are among the latest models on view, aside from Mercedes Benz and Zonda Tricolore .
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