Downsizing on the dollar

It has been a year most car dealerships would not like to see repeated. The economic downturn, inflation, high gas prices and political uncertainty have taken their toll on sales, with only a handful of dealers meeting, yet alone surpassing, their sales projections. In short, the automotive sector is yet another segment of the Lebanese economy that can be considered to be in ‘crisis mode’. At first glance there would seem little cause for concern, with sales stronger than last year’s. In the first four months of 2012, 10,169 new passenger cars were sold, an increase of 12 percent on the same period in 2011, according to figures from the Automobile Importers Association (AIA). While sales slowed down over the summer, by the end of August sales were still up, by 7.6 percent on 2011, and up 2.1 percent on 2010, indicating that unit sales in 2012 would reach the