Some dual-fuel vehicles delivered through the government’s natgas transition scheme will be EGP 3-5k more expensive after the Finance Ministry approved three manufacturers’ requests to raise their prices, the official spokesperson for the initiative, Ahmed Abdelrazek, told Enterprise. Nissan, Alamal Group (which is delivering BYD and Lada cars), and Zemex microbus manufacturer the Egyptian-British Automobile Manufacturing Company all got permission to hike prices. EGX-listed GB Auto, the assembler and distributor for Hyundai, also submitted a request to raise prices, but the ministry has yet to approve it, according to Abdelrazek.

The price increase comes on the back of an increasingly debilitating global supply chain crunch, which is leading to a hike in shipment costs, as well as shipment delays of chips and other car components, Abdelrazek tells us. The scheme dictates that manufacturers can only raise prices if six months have passed since their last price increase, or if the ministry finds “just cause” for a hike. It also places a 10% cap on price increases.

The natgas transition scheme has so far given out almost 7.7k natgas-run cars, according to Abdelrazek. The multi-year scheme, which first saw the light earlier this year, also has financial incentives in place to drive more people to take part. The initiative aims to take 1.8 mn cars off the road to be outfitted with dual-fuel engines over the course of a decade.