Car market in limbo in Egypt

Passenger car sales were down by 10 per cent during the period from January to May 2019, according to the July report of the Automotive Market Information Council (AMIC), with about 41,000 cars sold compared to more than 45,000 in the same period of 2018.
Weak sales over the past seven months prompted car dealers to cut prices. “Discounts of up to 20 per cent on various models have been introduced since January,” said the head of sales at one of Cairo’s car dealerships.

The decline in sales is widely believed to be due to calls by a campaign called “Let it Rust” to boycott purchases until car dealerships and distributers lower their profit margins. The campaign is currently urging consumers to wait until September when newer car models are introduced, which might force some dealers to lower the prices of 2019 models further.

The campaign started on social-media networks at the end of 2018 to protest against the high prices of cars in Egypt. Its Facebook page has attracted some two million followers.

“The discounts announced by car dealers on certain models are not yet enough for me to buy the car I want,” said one member of the campaign on the Facebook page.