COMPETITION AUTHORITY PROBING AUTO INDUSTRY? Automotive distributors are reportedly the subject of a probe into price-fixing allegations by the Egyptian Competition Authority (ECA), according to Al Mal. The newspaper quotes ECA chief Mona El Garf as saying the ECA is looking into practices that it alleges contributed to unreasonable price hikes in all categories of vehicles. El Garf provides no further information, saying the results of the probe would be released only after it is reviewed by the ECA’s board.

The news comes as automotive sales fell 26% year-on-year in 8M2016 to 137.6K vehicles sold, down from 185.9K during the same period in 2015 as the industry grappled with the impact of the FX crunch. Passenger car sales declined by 25% to c.97,400 vehicles sold, down from 130k in the same period last year, Al Mal reports. Hyundai held the top spot and saw its market share rise to 28.9% y-o-y from 24%, followed by Nissan with a 13.9% market share, Chevrolet (10.1%), and Kia (7.7%). Meanwhile, bus sales plummeted by 31.7% y-o-y for the period, with 15,246 vehicles sold, down from 22,336, according to the newspaper which cited a report by the automobile industry’s information council (AMIC). Truck sales have fallen 25.8% for the period.