Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) The royal decree in Saudi Arabia which now allows women to drive is leading to a big boost in sales for Audi.
Saudi Arabia
Samaco Automotive Company, the exclusive dealer for Audi cars in Saudi Arabia, has announced a substantial sales growth compared to the same period last year.
The company attributed this exceptional rise in sales to the implementation of the royal decree allowing women to drive cars from June 24.
The company stated that its sales to women, in some parts of the Kingdom, reached more than 50 percent of the total sales in June.
Samaco noted that Audi car showrooms had witnessed more interest from female customers earlier in the year, but that this increased substantially since the beginning of June, reflecting the keen desire of women to learn more about Audi cars.
Enquiries from women covered all aspects of the purchase process, including cash and credit sales offers as well as the company’s after-sales services. There was also a keen interest in Audi car technologies.
The company reported higher sales on Audi cars in general, and in particular increased demand for Audi A5, A8, Q2 and Q7 models. The Audi Sport RS models have also been in high demand since the royal decree came into force, indicating the preference Saudi women have for performance models.
Samaco Automotive Company has recruited Saudi women to assist the increasing number of women visiting Audi showrooms.
Kerem Tas, general manager of the Audi brand in Samaco Automotive, said: “Since the issuance of the royal order allowing women to drive on Sept. 29, 2017, automotive companies anticipated an increase in sales due to the entry of women as potential customers. We, at Audi also expected to achieve a reasonable sales increase, but to our surprise, the sales to our female customers have contributed to more than 20 percent of our total sales Kingdom-wide so far.”
