Figures released by the Association of Automobile Importers (AAI) in Lebanon show that dealers sold 4,622 new passenger cars in the first seven months of 2020, constituting a drop of 71.3% from 16,124 cars sold in the same period of 2019. Individuals and institutional clients purchased 979 new cars in January, 897 new vehicles in February, 468 new automobiles in March, 188 new cars in April, 651 new vehicles in May, 815 new automobiles in June, and 624 new cars in July 2020. In comparison, clients bought 1,838 new vehicles in January, 1,906 new automobiles in February, 2,190 new cars in March, 2,168 new vehicles in April, 2,458 new automobiles in May, 2,616 new cars in June, and 2,948 new vehicles in July 2019.
 
The market for new passenger cars in Lebanon has been facing increasing challenges in the past few years, including economic contraction, job insecurity, reduced purchasing power of consumers, as well as more stringent requirements for car loans. In addition, the market has been affected by the measures that banks had to put in place since last October, as well as by the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country and the related general mobilization measures. Further, the AAI estimated that importers of new cars incurred damages estimated at tens of millions of dollars as a result of the explosion at the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. It anticipated that a number of car distributors could close down and that car sales could further deteriorate in coming months. The association stopped releasing its monthly data on car sales by brand, distributor and source country since January 2020.