Ethiopia 2021. Toyota Underperforms In Market Up 5.3%

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Ethiopia car market
The 2022 Ford Maverick

Ethiopia’s Auto market in 2021 rises by 5.3% with 1,423 sales, reporting a positive performance in all quarters except for Q4. Leader Toyota reports a disappointing performance, losing 17.2%. 

Market Trend

Ethiopia’s car market this year recovered effectively from the pandemic crash of 2020 and reported a promising performance in all quarters except for Q4.

The market in recent years has been revitalized by the presence of several small local assembly plants, built by Chines BYD, FAW, Lifan, Sinotruck, and Geely, plus Toyota and, since 2017, Kia.

Despite the recent years’ positive economic environment, the Ethiopian market has deteriorated, dropping from near 4,000 units in 2015 to 2,034 in 2018.

In 2019, the market (including HCVs) declined again, marking the sixth annual loss in a row. Indeed, Full-year sales have been 1,935, down 4.9% from the previous year.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic full-Year sales for 2020 have been 1,351, reporting a decline of 29.7% compared to 2019.

In 2021 the year started quite positively for the Ethiopian market, in fact, in Q1 363 units have been sold, reporting a 10.3% increase in sales compared to Q1 2020, and in Q2 sales kept growing, reporting a 29.5% increase in sales with 373 units sold due to the low sales volume registered in Q2 2020.

In Q3 sales remained almost flat (+0.6%) with 358 units sold, while in Q4 sales dropped 13% with 329 units sold.

Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2021 have been 1,423, reporting a 5.3% increase compared to 2020.

Ethiopia quarterly sales variation
Ethiopia quarterly sales variation

Brand-wise, this year the leader Toyota (-17.2%) lost 7.6% market share, followed by Ford (+1.8%), which lost 0.5% share. Lifan (+21.6%) was in the third position and gained 1.9% market share.

The most sold model in the country this year is the Ford Ranger with 197 sales, holding 16.2% market share.