Sales push in Ramadan for Al Futtaim Motors

Al Futtaim Motors is hoping to sell 7,000 Toyotas during Ramadan to make up for a dip in production at the Japanese carmaker following the March earthquake and tsunami. Total sales for the first part of this year were up 16 per cent from the same time last year according to Simon Frith, the firm's managing director. "This is higher than the general market growth of 8 per cent during the same period," he said. Toyota's production output suffered earlier this year following the tsunami that hit Japan in March. Although its main factory in Tokyo was not directly hit, the factory manufacturing supply parts was affected. This saw production plummet by more than 50 per cent. Article continues below According to Frith, the Yaris and Prado models were the worst hit by the supply shortage. "What we did to overcome the shortages earlier this year was improve our selling efficiency from stock by 30 to 40 per cent. We also changed some of the processes and financing within the dealership," said Frith. According to Andrew Squires, manager of national sales, planning and distribution at Al Futtaim, production is improving more quickly than expected.