[GSHA]

Recently, I spent a week in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti Dinar, as you may know, is the richest currency in the world, though tagged with the US Dollar. Being an automobile fan, I was curious to see the automobile world within Kuwait. Here is a description of what I saw.

Common Entry Level cars: around 50% of the population

• Toyota and Mitsubishi rule.
• Common man’s cars are the Toyota Corolla and Mitsubishi Lancer. These amount to 5 of 10 cars. Say, 3 of every 10 cars is a Corolla and 2 of every 10 cars is a Lancer.
• Other commonly seen brands are Nissan and Chevrolet. Nissan Sunny and Chevy Lumina are common sightings. Well, 1 out of 20 cars is a Sunny or a Lumina.
• Toyota Corolla: Almost all corollas belong to the 2000+model year category. Did not see a 2008 model though.
• Mitsubishi Lancer: Runs a longer list. Models start from as early as 1998. Most common version is the Lancer IX (Cedia in India). Did see two instances of Lancer X also. No EVOs sighted.

Un-Common Entry Level cars: Less than 1%.

• Chevy Optra: Looked similar to the 2004 model sold in India
• Suzuki Baleno: Saw a couple of them. Pre-2000 model
• Suzuki Alto: Saw only one 1.1L model
• Honda City: Saw only one Honda City (Indian NHC)
• Honda Civic: Saw two new Civics - but not a single earlier model
• Skoda: Saw one Octavia RS

SUVs: about 30% of the population

Being a desert, plus for the macho looks, 3 of every 10 cars were a SUV.

• Mitsubishi Pajero: 50% of SUVs were the Pajero. Saw a two-door version too (only one instance). The Montero of India is badged as the Pajero
• Toyota Land Cruiser / Prado: Comprise about 30% of the SUVs.
• Chevy Blazer, Nissan Patrol, Mitsubishi Nativa, GMC SUV, Suzuki Grand Vitara comprise the rest of the population

Bigger Sized Cars: about 20% of the population

• Toyota Camry rules
• Chevy Caprice is popular too – though not as common as Camry
• Mercury Grand Marquis is a common big size car. Cops use Ford Crown Victoria.
• Did see one Honda Accord – looked like a 2008 model featuring the new design launched recently
• Did see a couple of Chevy Monte Carlo

Cars of the richer local people:

Here is a common collection of cars parked in their garage. Garages are usually sheds in front of the houses – no fences or walls.

• One Mercedes S Class
• One Toyota Camry
• One Mitsubishi Pajero
• Plus, a Lancer is also parked along, in many of the houses! May be a visitor / or a young family member

Premium cars:

• Mercedes is the common premium brand: S Class sells the most. A few E Class also exist. No sight of C Class. Did see one CLK cabriolet though.
• BMWs exist: 7 and 5 series are usual. Only a handful though.

Exotic cars:

• Saw one May Bach parked outside a house! (Along with common cars of the rich).
• Saw one Lamborghini Gallardo parked outside a men’s hair cutting saloon!
• Saw a bunch of stretch limousines – One Hummer, One Merc, One Rolls Royce, all seen near the beach parking lot of the Prince of Kuwait.

Taxis:

Mostly Corollas and Lancers. Did see a couple of Sunnys. However, the taxi we used for the week was a JINBEI minivan. I learnt from the Taxi driver that JINBEI is a Chinese car company! Never saw another JinBei.

[diabloo]

Hey, any sighting of Veyron?

[GSHA]

Originally Posted by diabloo

Hey, any sighting of Veyron?

Nope. No Veyrons.

By the way, Petrol sells for Rs.9.30 per litre in Kuwait.

[artofzen]

You can see loads of saudi registered modified cars in Kuwait

[ajinkya]

I have a friend in college from Kuwait and another from Muscat (Oman). Both claim to have seen cadillacs in their respective countries. Did you see any of those?

[jesal]

Originally Posted by GSHA

Nope. No Veyrons.

By the way, Petrol sells for Rs.9.30 per litre in Kuwait.

now i know the hummmmmer secret.

[GSHA]

Originally Posted by ajinkya

I have a friend in college from Kuwait and another from Muscat (Oman). Both claim to have seen cadillacs in their respective countries. Did you see any of those?

Yes. I saw one stretch limousine Cadillac too. But, no more than one.

[GSHA]

Originally Posted by jesal

now i know the hummmmmer secret.

True. Very true.

Cost of fuel seemed to be the critical factor.

All SUVs were upwards of 3.5L!!!

[saif]

Hi,
I am an Indian in Kuwait and do meet when you are in Kuwait next time. At least you will not have to sit in a Chinese car!!
There are two Bugatti Veyrons in Kuwait, also there is a club for virtually very exotic car- Ferrari, Lambo, Corvettes, MB SLRs, 911 Turbos, Vipers etc.
There is are couple of quarter mile tracks where people (mostly Kuwaitis) drag race, its not uncommon to see the exotic cars there.
The reason why probably you did not see exotics cars was because maybe you did not go to the right areas to see them.

[BraveArc]

Went on a 2 month long vacations last summer and this winter, the most common car I saw was the Range Rover and a whole of Porsches. Too many driven by woman for my liking
Uploaded some of the pics I took, couldn't bother taking any Porsches. Felt like I had seen more Range Rovers, Porsches and Bentleys in one day than I did in my entire life in India
Even managed to click a pic of a Veyron with quite a bit of Chrome, couldn't get the front though way to fast to even for my dad's Chrysler 300

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by BraveArc

Went on a 2 month long vacations last summer and this winter

Whoa That Rolls is parked real close to the Mitsubishi Montero. I wonder if he indeed ended up grazing the SUV.

[BraveArc]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

Whoa That Rolls is parked real close to the Mitsubishi Montero. I wonder if he indeed ended up grazing the SUV.

He sure did touch the Pajero, with the Phanthom Drophead Coupe no less. I mean I know arab people are super rich, but seriously it's a Rolls Royce

Plus here's a pic of one of the wierdest looking cars I saw in Kuwait and my life.

[sandeep_vgl]

Originally Posted by BraveArc

He sure did touch the Pajero, with the Phanthom Drophead Coupe no less. I mean I know arab people are super rich, but seriously it's a Rolls Royce

Plus here's a pic of one of the wierdest looking cars I saw in Kuwait and my life.

The weird one looks like Orochi from Mitsuoka Motors?

[kraft.wagen]

how on earth did he park the RR like that.

Its a pretty common sight to see women drive around Porsche

Originally Posted by BraveArc

He sure did touch the Pajero, with the Phanthom Drophead Coupe no less. I mean I know arab people are super rich, but seriously it's a Rolls Royce

Plus here's a pic of one of the wierdest looking cars I saw in Kuwait and my life.

Ya it is Mitsuoka Orochi!

[Karthik-zza]

Saw the same yellow H1 at JBR, Dubai in 2009!