Chinese automobiles win market in Gaza

GAZA - Recently, Chinese-made cars have been weaving through the roads in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip as private cars or taxicabs.

Historically, the car market in Gaza has been occupied by productions of Germany, Japan and South Korea. However, the Chinese cars, mainly Chery Automobile's Speranza and others like JAC and Geely, become the new entrants in the market.

Different types of German and Korean cars were showcased in Abu Khalil Badwan's car shop in Gaza city, but a customer engaged in an argument with Badwan over the delay of importing the Chinese car he ordered a month ago.

"We have done our role," Badwan told the customer who named Abu Ahmed Bolbol that the order has been sent to the company that imports and assembles Speranza in neighboring Egypt and he is waiting for the procedures of bringing the cars to Gaza.

Badwan alone has imported more than 400 Chinese cars from Egypt in three months.

"People love these cars because they do not consume too much fuel and their prices are sensible," Badwan said while classifying dozens of orders into files, pointing that the price of a 2013 Geely four-wheel drive is almost the same as a 2008 Korean hatchback.

Bolbol, a public sector accountant in Gaza, said he will buy a Speranza to join a fleet of taxis run by his friends as an extra source of income.

"The Chinese cars are nice and acceptable to people," he said, adding that they provide more space for feet, unlike other taxis.

But bringing spare parts of the Chinese cars from Egypt to Gaza is still a trouble business, said Badwan, who wishes to travel to China and ship the spare parts directly from there via Israel's sea ports.