Azerbaijani property expert talks impact of COVID-19 on automotive market

By Trend

The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has almost nullified activity in Azerbaijan’s automotive market and the online sales system, property market expert Vagif Huseynov told Trend on Apr. 28.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all areas. There are sectors in the economy that continue to operate through online sales, but this is not possible in the automotive industry. When buying a car, it is first checked in services that did not work during the quarantine regime. In addition, many people are coming from regions to Baku to buy a car,” Huseynov noted.

“After the introduction of quarantine, entry and exit to the capital and movement between the country’s regions were limited; respectively, the number of people using private cars also significantly decreased. Therefore, interest in buying and selling cars was not observed,” he added.

The expert said that it is still too early to think about a significant revival in the country's automotive market in the near future, adding that economic activity has already begun to recover in Azerbaijan.

“Even if the situation fully stabilizes before mid-May, there will be no recovery in the automotive market in the next two months, because people will not make large purchases, preferring to save money. Some people will beware of the second wave of COVID-19, while others will be restoring their business. Therefore, there will not be much activity in this sector until September. As for prices, it is too early to say anything about this,” Huseynov added.