The Middle East market is small in numbers but not in value and could vanish with war
After the joint US-Israeli attack onIranthe latter responded by attacking neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf, completely destabilizing one of the richest areas in the world. This dramatic geopolitical situation adds to other serious sources of international instability, including the collapse of demand in the Chinese market, the substantial closure of the Russian market to Western industries and the new US trade policy, increasingly characterized by uncertainty and tariffs (threatened, imposed, modified, withdrawn). The concomitance of all these events is creating the perfect storm for theluxury car which, until recently, saw the Middle East as a fundamental rescue buffer to compensate for the losses suffered elsewhere.
MARKETS IN DANGER
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According to data published in recent days by Reuters And Cnbcthe impacts of the geopolitical situation on the luxury car market in the Middle East would already be clearly visible and the resulting damage would be difficult to absorb. Second Reutersalthough the Middle Eastern market constitutes, in terms of volumes, less than 10% of total sales for most luxury car manufacturers, its specific weight in terms of profits it is disproportionately higher. Cnbc highlights how the entire Middle East car market is less than a fifth of that of the United States but, despite its small size, compensates for the lower volumes with very high profit marginsdriven by strong demand concentrated in Gulf countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Here there is a very high concentration of wealthy buyers who systematically opt for high-performance models or vehicles with exclusive customizations that can double or triple the base price of the car. According to GlobalData, by 2033, the growth of the luxury car market in the Middle East will be 7-8% annually. Most of the 3 million cars sold in the area, in fact, are at least “premium“, if not really “luxury“, and most of the demand for luxury cars is concentrated in the Gulf, in countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE, for example, buys 300,000 vehicles from abroad every year and 20% of these are premium or luxury. The BMW group recorded a 10% growth in deliveries in the Middle East between 2024 and 2025 (and the most expensive models, such as the M variants, grew by 38%). Porsche, on the other hand, recorded 28% growth in revenue per single car sold in the Middle East between 2020 and 2025, with Porsche 911s now accounting for 20% of sales in the area. And it was Porsche’s head of corporate communications, Matthias Rauter, who stated that “the current situation in the Middle East could have a negative impact on the supply chain and demand in the future”.
FERRARI IN THE MIDDLE EAST
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The numbers relating to the brand only Ferrari unequivocally illustrate the impact of this region. During 2025, the Maranello house has shipped 626 vehicles in the Middle East (United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait), out of a total of 13,640 luxury cars sold in 2025. This is a decidedly significant quantity for a manufacturer that deliberately keeps its sales volumes low, to maintain the exclusivity of the product very high. The Middle Eastern market reached a percentage weight of 4.6% of Ferrari’s overall sales in 2025, up from the 3.5% recorded in 2024. Putting this percentage figure into perspective with other large markets, Middle Eastern sales surpassed the entire Chinese market. Furthermore, when comparing the situation with Europe, vehicles shipped to the Gulf region were higher than those sold in key countries such as the United Kingdom (571), Switzerland (507) and France (598). But while European markets are now considered quite mature and with limited growth prospects, Middle Eastern markets have much greater room for growth. Or, perhaps, they had them.
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