According to the General Directorate of Syrian Customs, 98,942 vehicles were imported into Syria via the ports of Tartous, Latakia, Banian and Arwad in 2007. Some Syrians would even replace their cars with newer ones on a yearly basis. The popularity of the car industry before the war helped pumping momentum into other car-related sectors including car mechanics, bodywork repairs, denting, smithery and paint works and services. However, since the outbreak of the revolution, car imports into Syria have been showing a steep decline. The number of imported cars decreased in 2010 to 88,072 and further to 35,490 in 2011, reaching an all-time low in 2012 at 2019 cars only. The revenues from the imported cars fell to 93 million Syrian pounds down from 4,268 billion in 2010. The Syrian market was dependent primarily on car imports from Korea (Kia and Hyundai), China (Honda), Japan (Toyota) and Iran (Iran Khodro), for these makes were affordable to all social classes. Trade of European cars was completely interrupted due to sanctions and shipping difficulties. Surprisingly, the car-related figures provided by Syria’s Central Bureau of Statistics website contrast drastically with those reported by the customs.

The car industry was at the forefront of the sectors affected by the conflict in 2010, especially that most showrooms are located at the heart of the turmoil-stricken zones like Damascus. In fact, Damascus alone used to host around 425,654 imported vehicles, but the violent clashes wreaked massive havoc on the import business and resulted in freezing sales and closing down of showrooms, not only in the capital but in the rest of the governorates coming under fire such as Hama, Homs, Dara’a, Aleppo and Deir Ez-Zour.

The decline of the Syrian pound against the dollar has also had a major impact on importing cars and translated into higher prices thus leading to sharp falls in sales. As a precautionary measure aimed at saving the market from collapse, banks ceased funding car purchases especially following the clear deterioration in income that accompanied the economic crisis. Against the decline in the purchasing power, Syrians have shifted into buying precious metals- gold- and foreign currencies instead of cars. Soaring fuel prices have rendered low-income earners incapable of covering their car expenses and banks resorted to increasing interest rates on delinquent debts.

Conversely, the market of second-hand cars recorded a significant increase in demand, which covered small-sized cars in particular, as people refrained from seeking large cars following the prevalent thefts and security incidents that targeted those types of vehicles.