Ford's regional sales soar

DUBAI // Sales of Ford cars grew 30 per cent in the Emirates last year despite the global economic woes ravaging the industry in most other markets. While the US giant's local results made encouraging reading, analysts say sales will fall in the near future. Sales across the GCC of the company's Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands grew by 23 per cent, driven by 40 per cent higher sales of SUVs and trucks, Ford Middle East said.

"I think that [Ford's sales] will be fairly characteristic of the market," said Jose Paul, a consulting manager at the research firm Frost & Sullivan who covers cars and transport for the Middle East and North Africa. "There have been quite a few car manufacturers whose sales have grown in the UAE significantly over the past year. But in the last two months, there has been a very different trend."

Sector sales have been bleak worldwide, with Japanese company Toyota cutting its annual profit forecast last month due to the global economic slowdown. The "big three" US car makers - General Motors, Chrysler and Ford - were forced to seek loans from the US government as they faced desperate cash shortages. In recent months sales in the UAE have begun to dip as banks severely restricted car loans. Minimum salary requirements were raised and employees of property and banking companies - sectors which have experienced several rounds of layoffs - were routinely rejected from financing, dealers said.

The UAE market faced some "serious change", said Robert Ziegler, the director of the research firm AT Kearney in Dubai. Previously, car demand outstripped supply. Today, the used-car market is seeing a flood of vehicles, Mr Ziegler said. In addition, more than 3,000 cars have been recently abandoned in the UAE by owners looking to escape loan payments, police said. "Things have turned," he said. "Financing is tight, whereas it was very loose before. It is now the extreme opposite."