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Tuesday, 4 May 2021

The gov’t has now been handing out new natgas vehicles for a full month

Update on the gov’t automotive natgas transition scheme: Egypt handed over 340 natgas cars as part of the natgas transition scheme during April, which was the first month the government began delivering the vehicles, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said in a statement on Friday.

Applications to the scheme seem to be slowing: Another 2k people applied to receive a natgas vehicle during April, taking the total to 70k, the minister said. There were around 68k applicants in the first three months of the scheme, which launched on 4 January.

Background: The government’s overall plan is to swap out 1.8 mn cars over the course of a decade — a feat that is expected to cost some EGP 320 bn. The government plans to convert 450k cars to run on natural gas in the next three years. The first batch of almost 30 dual-fuel vehicles were delivered on 4 April.

IN OTHER AUTOMOTIVE NEWS- The auto market recovery continues in 1Q2021: Auto sales grew 31% in 1Q2021, with 69.2k vehicles sold compared to 52.9k in 1Q2020, according to the local press, which cites figures by the Automotive Information Council (AMIC).

Sales breakdown: Passenger car sales rose 37% to 50.7k in 1Q2021 from 37k in the same period in 2020. Truck sales jumped 39% to reach 12.3k, while bus sales fell 13% to 6.1k from 7k a year earlier.

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