Total imports in this sector have held steady in the past five years. The used automobile market has been growing for the past several years with a rising share of American cars. Market liberalization measures related to used vehicles and weak credit availability for potential buyers of new cars are prime factors in the growth of the second-hand car market, which represents 78% of the market. To reduce used vehicles and boost new vehicle trade, used vehicles are taxed according to the age.
The cumulative performance of the 11 car dealers present in Côte d’Ivoire represents approximately $500 million in sales and
Yaya Outtara
U.S. Embassy Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan
Cote d'Ivoire
Summary
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There is no real barrier to this open market. A possible barrier is the domination of used cars; taxation is per age of the vehicle i.e. the older the vehicle is, the higher the tax. Since April 2018, a regulation limits the age of imported of used vehicles to a maximum of five years.
Despite the one-stop-shop for clearance, the clearance time can be relatively long (4 months or more). Weak credit availability and the high cost of new cars could be a challenge in this market.
Barriers
Direct investment or representation both work for this market. Companies have found more success working with a local representative. The import process is handled by a one-stop-shop that clears, registers and delivers documents in relatively short time.
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Market Entry
contributes more than $83.3 million in the tax revenue, with more than 1,500 direct employees. No constructor/manufacturer is currently operation, but last August the IVECO group signed an agreement with the Ministry of Transport to begin assembly operations.
The new vehicles market had an 14% increase, reaching 11168 cars sold in 2018 against 9,796 in 2017. Between 2015 and 2016, it had a decrease of 10 per cent (with 10,016 cars sold in 2015). The French group CFAO is the leader in this market with 40% share. Japanese brands make the largest part of
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