The change in relative fuel cost is expected to be significant for operators of commercial vehicle fleets in the UAE. Christopher Pike / The National
The change in relative fuel cost is expected to be significant for operators of commercial vehicle fleets in the UAE. Christopher Pike / The National

UAE may see big switch to diesel vehicles after fuel pricing change



A big switch to diesel vehicles in the country is expected following the recent move by the UAE Government to set petrol and diesel prices more in line with world market levels.

Industry executives say commercial fleet operators in particular have been studying the effects of the change in the fuel price regime – which has made diesel cheaper than petrol – and are making the switch to save on overall distribution costs.

At the same time, fleet operators have been considering the longer-term cost implications of tighter vehicle emissions standards – which are being weighed by the UAE and other GCC governments.

The price switch last month was aimed at cutting the Government’s fuel subsidies at a time when low oil prices are putting budgets under pressure.

The Government also highlighted its desire to move motorists to more fuel-efficient vehicles and to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

In the initial move diesel prices were cut by 29 per cent while petrol prices rose 24 per cent. Both were cut this month by about 8 per cent, leaving diesel at Dh1.89 a litre and premium petrol (Special 95) at Dh1.96 a litre.

The change in relative fuel cost is expected to be significant for operators of commercial vehicle fleets.

“Everyone is seeing this opportunity of a lower diesel cost and how can they lower their distribution cost to improve profitability,” said Paul Greenwood, the chief executive of Massar Solutions, formerly known as Al Wathba, one of the UAE’s largest fleet management and vehicle rental companies.

“Our suppliers – notably Toyota and Mitsubishi – are currently running surveys with us and their other big customers as to how we are gauging the demand for diesel vehicles,” Mr Greenwood said. He said there was a clear advantage to moving to diesel, even if that means upgrading to larger vehicles.

Patrick Fourniol, the head of Toyota marketing at Al Futtaim Motors, said he also expects to see rising demand for diesel vehicles driven by the lower fuel cost, at least in the short term.

“We forecast a diesel vehicle demand increase relative to the fuel cost increase [of petrol],” said Mr Fourniol, who believes diesel vehicles’ fuel costs to be 10 to 15 per cent lower than those with petrol engines, and even greater for larger vehicles.

The drive for lower-cost diesel vehicles will encourage distributors to offer a wider variety, Mr Greenwood said.

“In the coming months, you are going to see more diesel options coming on to the market,” he said, adding that the changing market dynamics would require a lower-sulphur diesel to be marketed in this country to accommodate a wider varity of engines.

Lower fuel prices will drive the switch to diesel in the short term, but Mr Fourniol said that mature markets had shown that the attraction of cheaper diesel vehicles can peak when other factors come into play.

In the UAE, he said, Toyota has been experimenting with several taxi-fleet operators with hybrid cars – petrol or diesel coupled with electric – to see if those, more expensive, vehicles have lower “total cost of ownership” over time.

In June, the Cars Taxi chief executive, Abdulla Al Sabbagh, said his company’s study of 29 hybrid Toyota Camrys resulted in projected reduced cost over four years of Dh55,000 per vehicle, plus a substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Last week, Toyota sold 50 hybrids to Arabia Taxi, and Mr Fourniol estimates it has sold a total of about 250 such vehicles to the country’s taxi operators so far.

That is still a relatively small slice of the taxi market. But Mr Fourniol said that with the changes to the fuel-price regime and the impending tighter emissions regulations between 25 and 30 per cent of the UAE’s taxi fleet will be hybrid vehicles by 2020.

amcauley@thenational.ae

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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
SPECS

Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre turbo

Power: 181hp

Torque: 230Nm

Transmission: 6-speed automatic

Starting price: Dh79,000

On sale: Now

Batti Gul Meter Chalu

Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5

The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
The specs

Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now

Business Insights
  • Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
  • The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
  • US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 
Building boom turning to bust as Turkey's economy slows

Deep in a provincial region of northwestern Turkey, it looks like a mirage - hundreds of luxury houses built in neat rows, their pointed towers somewhere between French chateau and Disney castle.

Meant to provide luxurious accommodations for foreign buyers, the houses are however standing empty in what is anything but a fairytale for their investors.

The ambitious development has been hit by regional turmoil as well as the slump in the Turkish construction industry - a key sector - as the country's economy heads towards what could be a hard landing in an intensifying downturn.

After a long period of solid growth, Turkey's economy contracted 1.1 per cent in the third quarter, and many economists expect it will enter into recession this year.

The country has been hit by high inflation and a currency crisis in August. The lira lost 28 per cent of its value against the dollar in 2018 and markets are still unconvinced by the readiness of the government under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to tackle underlying economic issues.

The villas close to the town centre of Mudurnu in the Bolu region are intended to resemble European architecture and are part of the Sarot Group's Burj Al Babas project.

But the development of 732 villas and a shopping centre - which began in 2014 - is now in limbo as Sarot Group has sought bankruptcy protection.

It is one of hundreds of Turkish companies that have done so as they seek cover from creditors and to restructure their debts.

THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

Disclaimer

Director: Alfonso Cuaron 

Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville 

Rating: 4/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 4/5
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

'The Batman'

Stars:Robert Pattinson

Director:Matt Reeves

Rating: 5/5

Dhadak

Director: Shashank Khaitan

Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana

Stars: 3

Company%20profile
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Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now
Alan Rushbridger, Canongate

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode

Directors: Raj & DK

Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon

Rating: 4/5

'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press

Company%20profile
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

How to get exposure to gold

Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.

A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.

Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.

Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.

London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long

However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.

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Kibsons%20Cares
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Crops that could be introduced to the UAE

1: Quinoa 

2. Bathua 

3. Amaranth 

4. Pearl and finger millet 

5. Sorghum