Azernews.Az

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan has recorded an increase in car imports by 64 percent, as 5,662 units of cars of various purposes were delivered to the country in January-August 2017.

The country imported 5,662 vehicles as compared to 3,454 vehicles in the same period of 2016, according to the State Customs Committee.

Cars and motor vehicles accounted for 4,874 of the total number of the vehicles imported by the country, while in 2016 this number was 2,981.

Moreover, the country imported 603 trucks in January-August 2017 as compared to 342 trucks imported in January-August 2016.

The remaining part of the imports accounted for other types of vehicles.

In total, Azerbaijan imported 5,746 vehicles in 2016 as compared to 26,785 vehicles in 2015.

Experts note an increase in the domestic car market. So, if in 2005 the number of cars did not exceed 50,000, then today their number exceeds 1.3 million. The State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan stated that in January-May of 2017, the car import increased by 18.99 percent against a fall of 4.66 times in 2016.

However, still Azerbaijan lags behind not only Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, but also neighboring Georgia in terms of the number of cars per capita.

The shift to Euro-4 in 2014 influenced taxes on imported cars. Prices for cars meeting Euro-4 standards are higher than prices for Euro-2 standard cars. Depending on the size of the engine, the amount of taxes on cars imported into the country varies.

Currently, the renewal of the car park occurs at the expense of economy class cars. In the primary market, the largest number of cars is bought from manufacturers from Asia. The four bestsellers are Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and KIA, which account for 40 percent of the total market. More than 30 percent of sales on the car market of Azerbaijan falls on Mercedes brand, the remaining 67-68 percent of the automotive market shares 50 other brands, according to Sputnik Azerbaijan.

Last year, there was a noticeable increase in car prices, in particular, prices in the primary market increased by more than 50 percent following the devaluation of the national currency.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz