New car sales record a lower growth in 2022 compared to 2020

Despite the economic crisis that Lebanon is facing, the number of newly registered cars has jumped from 62 during January-February 2021 to 762 in the same period this year. The main reason behind this increase is that people have rushed to purchase cars, expecting a price rise in the event of raising the customs dollar rate. The following table shows that this high number of purchased cars is lower than that recorded in the years before the crisis, amounting to about 4,800 cars.

Prior to the onset of crisis, the average number of new cars sold during January-February 2019 was 4,490. It decreased to 900 during the same period of 2020-2022, i.e. down by 80% or 3,590 cars.

A table showing the number of new cars sold during January-February 2017-2022.

Source: Information International based on AIA’s figures.