Chinese car makers target UAE’s Ramadan bargain hunters

CFOTO/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

• Competition for sales intensifying
• Buyers expecting steep price cuts
• Traditional brands struggling

Chinese car makers look set to win big over traditional manufacturers from the US, Japan and Europe among Ramadan bargain hunters in the UAE this year.

For years, Japanese, American, and European carmakers have relied on Ramadan promotions, offering free insurance, extended warranties and zero percent financing, to increase sales. 

But buyers, squeezed by inflation, now expect steeper price cuts, said Imthishan Giado, a partner at Motoring Middle East, an automotive trends and insights platform.

Chinese brands such as Geely, Haval and Jetour have rapidly gained market share in the UAE, offering lower-priced, tech-heavy models, and are expected to increase the pressure on other brands this Ramadan, adding to an already competitive market, industry experts say.

“The Ramadan offers aren’t working like before,” Giado said. “Even for high-end cars, people want lower prices. On the other hand, Chinese cars will continue to sell like crazy. They don’t really need to offer deals, because they’re already priced at what the market can afford. But they can use Ramadan deals to buy even more market share.”

Giado said traditional brands from Japan, Europe and the US were struggling and will use Ramadan to clear inventory leftover from 2024.

Sebastian Fuchs, managing director at AutoData Middle East, said his company had counted more than 60 Ramadan promotions so far. “The population keeps growing, so there’s demand, but you can definitely tell by the depth of the offers that competition is intensifying,” he said.

Some Japanese brands are offering aggressive financing deals, such as “drive free for two years”. Chinese brands, despite already undercutting rivals on price, are rolling out similar offers. Jetour, for example, has introduced zero percent financing for three years.

“The European manufacturers are under huge pressure right now because of Chinese losses they are seeing for the first time,” Fuchs said. Consumer perceptions of Chinese cars are shifting, he said.

“This is not going to go away. Where people used to say, ‘don’t buy a Chinese car, you won’t be able to resell it,’ we’re now seeing early signs of competitiveness in resale value.”

• How China won over the car market in the UAE

• Chinese carmakers ‘taking Gulf by storm’

• Navigating business opportunities during Ramadan

Chinese automakers’ market share in the UAE rose from 4 percent to nearly 7 percent in 2024, an 86 percent surge in units sold, according to the Middle East Automotive Council.

Hasan Nergiz, managing director at Al-Futtaim Electric Mobility, the UAE distributor of BYD, an all-electric Chinese car brand, said the company was on “an exponential growth curve”, selling 500 to 1,000 cars a month since September and about 3,000 vehicles in total since entering the market 18 months ago.

It aims to sell 7,000 to 10,000 cars in the UAE this year, he said. BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world’s top-selling EV maker last year, sold three million vehicles globally in 2023.

“The cars that are priced right are selling,” Giado said. “The ones that aren’t? No Ramadan discount can save them.”