Lebanon Premium Sales Comparison : 2016-18

Downtown Beirut perhaps?

Premium sales have been falling for the past three years as we see below. At least the downward trajectory is slowing (what it doesn't show is that sales were up 30% in 2015). The total each year is a round the 4,000 mark, which was 12% of the total market in 2018. Compared to NZ's 9.3%, that's quite high.

One thing I don't get is the world's obsession with German premium cars. They over achieve in a massive way. Well, in Lebanon, they get that. Buying is in a much more balanced way, with other brands doing well too as we see below.

For a start, JLR is top. They aren't even close to that in the UK, being well behind three big German brands. Crazy. Admittedly this is a more recent trend in Lebanon, with JLR moving from 4th to 1st in three years.

However, it goes well beyond JLR too. Infiniti have now passed Audi into 4th spot and you don't see that very often...actually never. Cadillac is breathing down Porsche's neck as well. How exciting! It's also common sense, which I must applaud the Lebanese car buyer for.

Years			Brand	2018		2017		2016
16	17	18	Total	3,987	-3.0	4,112	-3.6	4,265	-10.6
4	3	1	JLR	934	23.4	683	16.6	431	10.1
			Land Rover	662	16.6	462	11.2	283	6.6
			Jaguar	272	6.8	221	5.4	148	3.5
1	1	2	Mercedes	839	21.0	983	23.9	1,069	25.1
2	2	3	BMW Group	468	11.7	708	17.2	954	22.4
			BMW	318	8.0	502	12.2	742	17.4
			MINI	150	3.8	206	5.0	212	5.0
5	5	4	Infiniti	461	11.6	407	9.9	359	8.4
3	4	5	Audi	442	11.1	482	11.7	540	12.7
6	6	6	Porsche	254	6.4	292	7.1	282	6.6
7	7	7	Cadillac	225	5.6	195	4.7	203	4.8
8	8	8	Volvo	198	5.0	179	4.4	196	4.6
9	9	9	Lexus	77	1.9	81	2.0	169	4.0
10	10	10	Maserati	55	1.4	52	1.3	62	1.5