People opt for fuel efficient vehicles amid hike in crude prices in Oman

Muscat: Economic slowdown and a hike in fuel prices have affected the large engine vehicle segment as buyers
prefer to stick to more economical options.
According to experts and dealerships in Oman, the downsizing trend has been on the rise since January and effects are now tangible.
“We witnessed a significant drop in overall sales this year due to obvious reasons, but the large vehicle market has been affected drastically,” said the sales manager of a leading brand in Oman. “The most common question people are asking us is about the fuel efficiency of vehicles. Even customers looking for bigger cars enquire about smaller engine variants,” he said.
Suresh Nair, Marketing Manager at Towell Auto which sells popular brands like Geely and Mazda, explained that their sales have not seen a dive yet due to the already available fleet of fuel efficient cars. However, he said buyers have been having concerns about the future and are careful lest they entered a bad deal. “We have seen little impact on our sales due to the wide range of economic options available but, evidently, customers are now conscious of their investments and that is certainly affecting the market as a whole,” he added.
Some brand managers pointed out that this trend was far stronger and claimed that sales are becoming heavily skewed towards smaller vehicles. An official from one of the highest selling vehicle brands in Oman said sales of larger engine vehicles were suffering due to customers’ perception of the economy.