The Managing Director and Chief Govt Officer of Inventory Motorcars Restricted, Esu Bassey-Duke, has revealed that high-end SUVs are presently main demand in Nigeria, pushed by rising curiosity in newer fashions and the rising prices of importing older automobiles.
Talking with Nairametrics, he mentioned that at his Ogudu automobile lot, mid-size to massive SUVs are extra in demand in contrast with their sedan counterparts, that are nonetheless bought however whose demand has fallen behind that of SUVs.
He cited fashions such because the Mercedes GLE, Toyota Highlander, Toyota RAV4, Lexus LX, Hyundai Tucson and Mazda SUVs, noting that automobiles from 2014 fashions and newer are primarily purchased by middle- and upper-income consumers.
Bassey-Duke defined that these observations mirror the exercise of a dealership that imports automobiles by its U.S.-based guardian firm, supplying greater than 600 automobiles to the Nigerian market yearly. Rising import and clearing prices have made older automobiles much less engaging to importers, leaving the home second-hand market to serve that phase.
“The market has shifted towards high-end automobiles, particularly SUVs from 2014 fashions and newer. Rising import and clearing prices have made low-end automobiles, sometimes automobiles older than 2014, much less engaging for importation. The home second-hand market now caters to most of that phase,” Bassey-Duke.
He additional famous that older mannequin Toyota Corollas, usually used for ride-hailing companies, promote domestically for round N8 to N9 million. The identical automobiles might value about N11 million if imported, as clearing prices for older automobiles are practically the identical as for newer ones. Bassey-Duke mentioned it not makes {financial} sense for importers to herald older automobiles.
Bassey-Duke defined that for second-hand automobiles imported into Nigeria to satisfy excessive requirements, they need to endure a rigorous choice course of that prioritizes high quality and reliability.
Knowledge from the Nationwide Bureau of Statistics (NBS) exhibits that Nigeria imported automobiles price N479.26 billion within the first half of 2025, representing 3.12% of whole imports, a 9.6% decline from N530.67 billion in the identical interval of 2024.
