CAIRO: What better proof of a nation’s brightening image and lengthening reach abroad than that it can now sell cars in a country where its name has often been used as a slangy synonym for “imitation ?
At a courtyard press conference held Wednesday night on the outskirts of the Smart Village, auto dealer Ezz Elarab announced it is bringing a line of Chinese vehicles to Egypt through a deal with automaker Great Wall Motors, evidence of the staggering expansion of that country’s car industry in recent years.
Ezz Elarab usually sells costlier cars, filling many of its showrooms through deals with BMW and Jeep. But recently, the dealer has been looking to ply younger, thriftier markets with minivans, pickups and smaller passenger cars, said Bassem Ashmawy, the company’s brand manager.
When a number of Chinese carmakers approached Egypt last year, Ezz Elarab chose Great Wall Motors, based in Baoding, China, to help them do this.
Great Wall has made a number of notable forays overseas, with sales notched in nearly every Middle Eastern and African nation. In 2006, the carmaker sold 660 pickup trucks to Cuba, presenting Fidel Castro with two specially-designed “Hover models, each equipped with a refrigerator and LCD television.
The same year they launched a talked-up venture into Italy – though not without setbacks. Fiat accused Great Wall’s “Peri model of copying their “Panda, and badgered the Chinese firm to alter their designs. The problem is not unique to Great Wall; a couple years earlier, General Motors sued Chery, another Chinese automaker, for aping designs.
Great Wall’s ascent over the past few years has mirrored the escalating wealth of the Middle Kingdom’s auto industry, which, along with the rest of the country, has ridden a wave of capitalist fervor sparked by Deng Xiaoping’s “To Get Rich is Glorious tour in the early 90s.
Emboldened by success at home, Chinese car firms have gone abroad in droves over the past half-decade. Chinese cars held 27 percent of the domestic market in 2006, topping even Japanese brands by half a percent.
Last year, China shipped 612,700 vehicles overseas, according to the state-run China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, a jump of 79 percent over 2006. The same authorities say exports have about doubled annually over the past few years, from 78,000 vehicles in 2004 to 173,000 the next year, and again to 340,000 in 2006. The Chinese Commerce Ministry recently predicted exports would reach one million by 2010.
In public statements, Great Wall says it hopes to have an even split between sales at home and abroad by 2010.
On Wednesday, a glistening Sixth of October City showroom displayed a few of the models Egyptians can expect to see. On the higher end, the “So Cool 4×4 sells for LE 114,900, while the “Peri costs LE 52,900.
Ashmawy said dealing with their new partners – conducted mostly through emails in English – went smoothly, though not without a few bumps.
“The communication is a very high standard, he said. “They are very active in this point. But, he added, some Great Wall executives were nervous about the reliability of financial exchanges here. “They needed to try us for a long time; when they signed the contract they made some conditions to make it on the safe side, he said. “But this is normal. We try to earn their trust, mainly by selling the car.
There is a lot of room to grow in the Egyptian car market. While ubiquitous poverty and customs duties are obvious hurdles, analysts say that most Egyptians buy cars when they can because public transportation, especially to and from Cairo’s satellite cities, is so bad.
Despite debilitating traffic jams and recent registration fee hikes, car sales are ballooning at about 30 percent per year here, spurred by lower trade barriers and economic growth. Car per person rates are still quite low, with only about 20 cars per 1,000 Egyptians – neighboring Saudi Arabia has about 35 cars per 1,000 people and most developed nations average about around 500 per 1,000 people.
Many of Wednesday’s conference speakers were certain to reassure an audience of journalists and dealers that Chinese cars are as good as other brands, hinting that some stigma lingers among consumers. In 2006, the Financial Times reported that many analysts believe it would take Chinese carmakers a decade to fully convince consumers their cars are as good as those made by better-established firms like Toyota.
And it is still a small trade here. Ezz Elarab is looking to sell about 800 Great Wall pickup trucks and 1,100 of their passenger cars in the first year, said Ashmawy.
While Ashmawy expects Great Wall cars to be competitive in Egypt, he said he is realistic about Ezz Elarab’s chances of dominating the pickup market, where Chevrolet enjoys a 90 percent slice.
“We are not trying to be the first one in the row, Ashmawy said. “We are just trying to be in the row.
