Qatar’s automobile sector seems to have regained momentum this July with the new registrations — especially of private vehicles, motorcycles and heavy equipment — growing by a robust double-digit month-on-month, according to the official statistics.
The summer and Eid offers seem to have pushed the sales of new private vehicles in July, a month which saw the third phase of easing of the Covid-19 related restrictions.
The total clearing vehicles were 126,176 units, which increased 1.7% and 18.2% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively in the review period, said the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority.
The new vehicles segments rebounded, after a brief lull particularly due to social distancing measures, with their registration at 5,455 units, which represented 39.9% and 5.7% growth month-on-month and year-on-year respectively in July this year.
The registration of new private vehicles stood at 3,233, registering 42.3% growth month-on-month but was down a marginal 0.1% on yearly basis in July 2020. These accounted for about 59% of the new vehicles registered this July.
The registration of new private transport vehicles stood at 1,332; which constituted 24% of the total new vehicles in the review period. Such registrations saw 32.7% and 2.8% growth on monthly and yearly basis respectively in July 2020.
The registration of new motorcycles expanded 46.4% and 35.6% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively to 495 units or 9% of the new vehicles registered in July this year.
The registration of new heavy equipment saw 42.1% and 66.2% monthly and yearly increase respectively to 226 units, which constituted 4% of the total in July 2020.
The registration of new trailers was 39 units, which represented 56% and 21.9% rise month-on-month and year-on-year respectively this July. Trailers constituted less than 1% of the total registration of new vehicles in the review period.
The new registration of other non-specified vehicles stood at 257, which more than doubled on monthly and yearly basis respectively in this July and constituting about 5% of the total registration of new vehicles.
The auto loans from the commercial banks in the country were nevertheless on a rough ride with the credit to both the nationals and the expatriates dropping in the review period, the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data suggests.
According to the QCB data, auto loans for Qataris and expatriates had fallen 23.36% and 23.53% year-on-year respectively during the month in review.
The personal loan segment saw about 3% growth for Qataris; while it fell 20% for non-Qataris in July 2020.
The transfer of ownership was reported in 31,938 vehicles in the review period, which saw a 21.2% and 26.6% increase month-on-month and year-on-year in July 2020. The transfer of ownership constituted 25% of the total clearing vehicles in July this year.
The renewal of registration was reported in 81,485 units, which saw 9.3% fall on a monthly basis but grew 23% year-on-year in July 2020. They constituted 65% of the total clearing vehicles in the review period.
The re-registration of vehicles saw 0.8% and 5.8% jump month-on-month and year-on-year respectively to 127 in July this year.
The cancelled vehicles stood at 1,483 units, which witnessed 74.1% increase month-on-month but declined 38.3% on a yearly basis in July 2020.
The modified vehicles were 3,049 in July this year, which saw 51.1% and 32.4% expansion month-on-month and year-on-year respectively.
The number of lost/damaged vehicles was 1,542; which doubled in July on a monthly basis but was down 13.1% year-on-year.
The number of vehicles meant for exports were 1,097; which grew 6.1% month-on-month whereas it witnessed 18.6% shrinkage on yearly basis this July.