The FINANCIAL — Cars are the leading export of Georgia in 2011 according to the National Statistics Office of Georgia.
Their share is 24 percent of the total export for January-July 2011, while it was 12 percent for the same period of 2010.
27,682 cars with total value of 271,687,200 USD were exported from Georgia in the first seven months of 2011. 1,230 of them were new, while 25,567 were used cars.
The number has significantly increased in comparison to 2010. In total 23,144 cars were exported last year. 2,145 cars with total value of 87,175,900 USD were new, and 20,401 cars with total value of 136,467,200 USD were used ones.
The amount of car export was roughly twice less than in 2005. 11,265 cars were exported and only 3 were new.
According to the statistics there has been more car import than export in the country in 2011. 29,078 cars – 1,854 new and 22,200 used ones – were imported to Georgia from January to July 2011. The total value of imported cars in 2011 was 205,511,800 USD.
Car import to Georgia hasn’t grown as much as export has. 45,501 cars were imported to Georgia for 309,496,800 USD in 2010. Only 2,404 were new cars.
Data of the National Statistics Office shows that in total 713,262 vehicles were registered in Georgia in 2010. 577,254 out of the total number were cars, 65,569 were trucks, 47,600 – buses, and 12,300 – special vehicles.
In total various models of 202 brands were registered in Georgia in 2010. Opel is the leading brand with 74,025 cars. 59,702 Mercedes-Benzes, 38,061 Volkswagens, 32,718 BMWs, 26,733 Fords and 17,588 Toyotas were registered in 2010. There are still lots of soviet cars in Georgia. 20,307 Moskvichs were registered in the country.
The number of female drivers has significantly increased over the last three years in Georgia. Only a few of them buy sports cars though. Women are more interested in comparatively small cars, with lower running costs.
“The Volkswagen Crossover Tiguan is the bestselling and most popular model among female customers of Iberia Business Group. The Audi Q5 is mainly popular among businesswomen. If we compare the current market to the last 2-3 years, the number of women owners of Volkswagen cars increased by 35% and of Audis – by 20%,” said Vakhtang Antadze, Marketing Manager of Iberia Business Group .
The Mitsubishi Pajero Io is another very popular model among female drivers as it is cheap and more durable on Georgian roads. The Infiniti fx35 became quite popular among females who prefer big cars. The Fx35 is very stylish and not too expensive.
“If a female customer can afford more than 5,000 USD, for example about 7,000 USD – they mostly choose a Pajero Io, from 7-10,000 USD the biggest demand is for a Mercedes-Benz CLK. For 10-15,000 USD customers prefer to buy a Mercedes-Benz ML Jeep or BMW X5. Incidentally I must note that of the last 20 customers 7 were women, which I think is a significant figure,” said Otar Bakradze, Sales Manager of Strada Auto.
The majority of Georgian girls that have a job that keeps them busy all day tend to have cars. Thea Gotsadze, PR Manager of Goodwill, owns a Mercedes-Benz CLK, which was a birthday present from her husband a year ago. She now wants to change the car for the latest model of the same brand.
“I have a Mercedes-Benz because of the high quality and advantages synonymous with the brand. My car plays an important role in my life as I have such busy days and I’m on the go all day long. I usually wear smart clothing. My car helps me in this respect too, as walking or using public transport with smart clothes and high heels isn’t very convenient,” Gotsadze said.
“I think that cars define one’s social level. A car model automatically shows the social status of its owner,” she added.
Salome Tsakadze, PR Manager of Barambo, says that a car is not a sign of luxury in the 21st century.
“A car is essential for business relations as I can plan my schedule better,” Tsakadze said. “It gives me the possibility to use my time more efficiently. But the main pleasure for me is driving a car.”
“As our office is in Natakhtari, outside of Tbilisi, I decided to buy a jeep. So I have had a Volkswagen Tiguan for a year already, and I am not going to change it in the near future,” she noted.
Unlike Tsakadze, Khatuna Kakabadze, Traditional Media Planner of BOG, is sick and tired of driving in Tbilisi as the traffic is terrible.
“I don’t have a car at the moment. I recently sold my Subaru Forester as it had some technical problems and its running costs were quite high. I’m now choosing which new car I’m going to buy. I want a small and economic car. But I’m not really sure which is better, to have a car or not as Tbilisi has serious problems with traffic congestion and parking,” Kakabadze said.
Having a car does not define the exact social status of its owner in Georgia, however when a person (especially a girl) has a car, they are automatically held in higher esteem by the people around them. That is why lots of car owners tend to have expensive and luxurious cars. The bigger the car, the more prestigious it is. That’s why in spite of the high running costs of big cars and the high level of poverty in Georgia, a comparatively large number of people have jeeps.
Ana Kvirikashvili is a student of a Master’s course. Her parents gave her a car when she got her Bachelor’s degree.
“I was quite young when I got my first car. However my social status was similar to all of my peers. I was always equal to them. I didn’t even like saying that I had a car. Is spite of it some of them thought I was very rich and never believed that sometimes I didn’t have any money for clubbing or anything else. I always answered with the question: “Why is it so hard to believe that an ordinary middle class family can give their daughter a 5,000 USD car as a reward for all her hard work at university?”,” said Kvirikashvili.
“Georgian people have the wrong attitude regarding a lot of material things. In my opinion, it won’t change any time soon, which is a pity,” she stated.
Car importers say that Georgians don’t tend to have rare car brands or models.
The company cars.ge has been importing cars from Japan, the USA and Germany for several years. Every month they sell about ten cars and say that demand hasn’t increased in 2011 in comparison to 2010.
“According to our company’s statistics the most popular brands are BMW, Mercedes, Opel, Mitsubishi and Volkswagen,” said Inga Rustleri, Manager of cars.ge.
“Georgians’ taste in cars hasn’t changed over the years. The same brands and models are in demand now which used to be 2-3 years ago. There are lots of new models on the world car market, however Georgians avoid buying them. Georgians always prefer to buy traditionally well-known models,” she explained.
Lucky Group has been importing cars from the USA, Japan, Germany and England for 8 years. Representatives of Lucky Group talk about some of the new tendencies in Georgians’ taste in cars.
“In the last couple of years Volkswagen has been the most popular car in Georgia, but as the most recent sales statistics show, Mercedes now has the biggest share of sales,” said the Manager of the company.
“In my opinion, 30 percent of Georgian customers are somehow ready for innovations, yet the majority of them still prefer traditional models,” added Rustleri.
At the beginning of 2011 the Georgian Government and Renault’s Executive Department signed an agreement which is aimed at promoting and implementing electric vehicles in Georgia. As the Renault-Nissan centre reports they made this memorandum in order to reduce CO2 emissions and the effects of climate warming.
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