A row of new SUVs parked outside a glass-fronted car showroom lined with palm trees

Beyond Price: How Chinese Vehicle Brands Earn Trust in the Gulf

In 2019, Chinese brands were a rounding error in Gulf new-vehicle sales. Roland Berger put their GCC share at about 2% that year and estimated 15% for 2025. GlobalData puts it at 16% in 2024 and over 20% in 2025, and forecasts around 30% by 2030. Japanese brands still hold more than half the market.

For a brand arriving now, the question is no longer whether Gulf buyers will consider a Chinese vehicle. It is why they should choose yours, and whether they will come back for a second one.

Oman in numbers

  • 2025. The market grew 14.5% to 75,549 new vehicles. Toyota held 48.4%. Jetour rose 171% to third place among brands. MG, which reached second place in 2023, fell 20.7%.
  • First half of 2026. The market fell 15.2% to 30,870. Toyota’s share dropped to 42.6%. Jetour rose to second with 8.3%, and Changan was in the top five.
  • What buyers choose. The five best-selling models in 2025 were all pickups or SUVs: Toyota Hilux, Land Cruiser, Land Cruiser Pickup, Jetour T2 and Isuzu D-Max.

Being Chinese is not the story; execution is. In the same year, one Chinese brand nearly tripled its sales and another lost a fifth.

What buyers worry about

  1. Resale value. UAE motoring site ZigWheels estimates three-year retained values for Chinese models at roughly 50–60%, against 65–75% for Japanese models. In the UAE used-car market, AutoData reported that the average time to sell rose from 14 to 42 days between April and July 2025, partly because of a wave of used Chinese vehicles.
  2. Parts and service. Roland Berger names after-sales service, including parts availability, as an area where Chinese brands must invest to succeed in the GCC.
  3. Durability. Buyers ask whether a vehicle will cope with summer heat, dust and long highway distances.
  4. Staying power. Buyers want to know that the brand and its dealer will still be there when the warranty runs out.

How leading brands have responded

  • Long warranties. Jetour launched in Oman in 2022 with a 10-year or 1,000,000km engine warranty. Changan launched in Oman in 2020 with 5 years or 150,000km. In the UAE, Chery’s Omoda C5 carries 7 years or 150,000km, while MG, Geely, Changan and GAC offer 3 to 5 years.
  • Certified pre-owned. In May 2026, Elite Group Holding launched Jetour Trusted Pre-Owned, a certified pre-owned business for Jetour in the UAE: a direct answer to the resale question.
  • Established local partners. Several Chinese brands in Oman are represented by long-established Omani groups. Chery, for example, joined Saud Bahwan Group in 2023, and Geely is represented by Towell Auto Centre.

What a new entrant needs to get right

  1. Choose the partner for after-sales, not showrooms. The workshop decides whether the customer buys a second time. See After-Sales First.
  2. Put parts on the shelf before the vehicle is in the showroom. Agree fill-rate targets and decide where regional stock will sit. See Oman as a Regional Hub.
  3. Manage residual values deliberately. Control rental and fleet volumes, keep pricing consistent rather than discounting in cycles, and plan certified pre-owned and buy-back programmes from launch.
  4. Offer a warranty you can honour. A long headline warranty builds trust only if claims are approved quickly and the network handles them well. Oman’s Consumer Protection Law adds its own duties, including a free replacement vehicle when a repair takes more than 15 days.
  5. Specify for the Gulf. Cooling, filtration and air conditioning for local conditions, and certification to Gulf standards before the first order. See Before the First Sale.
  6. Show commitment. A regional parts centre, a training academy or, in time, local assembly tells buyers and governments that the brand intends to stay. See Setting Up a Vehicle Assembly Plant.

How Lutis helps

We help vehicle brands entering Oman choose and assess partners, plan after-sales and parts operations, design warranty, residual-value and pre-owned programmes, and build the case for longer-term investment, from a regional hub to local assembly.

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