New car Deliveries get stuck in Ships and Chips Tangle
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Buying a new car in the new car in the UAE now comes with something owners have never experienced before — a long wait to actually get it. What used to be a month or two waiting period on the more popular models is stretching well beyond that. And when it comes to luxury models and SUVs, the waiting can last a few months. At the start of the year, UAE dealerships had been optimistic that delivery times and stocks in hand would get better by summer. That, by the looks of it, is not happening, and which has prompted dealers to revise their expectations to year-end for the situation to improve. All this when demand for new cars is hitting 15–20 per cent levels from a year ago — and double what it was during 2020, when COVID-19 and the lockdown phase dented demand. At the time, dealers felt the impact would take years to repair — but that’s not how it’s been playing out as buyers started to return from the second-half of 2021. Only to find there aren’t enough cars to buy. Click ...