SA: Car exports still flow to the Middle East
By Tim Dornin, National Motoring Correspondent
ADELAIDE, April 2 AAP - Australian car exports are still flowing into the Middle Eastdespite the war against Iraq.
Toyota president Ken Asano today said the company had a short disruption to some shipmentswhen a wharf in Kuwait was damaged, but deliveries were now back on track.
He said the company also shipped into the region through the Red Sea and those deliverieshad been uninterrupted.
Toyota has the most to lose if car exports to the region are put on hold by the war,with plans to ship 66,000 vehicles to various Middle East countries this year.
Holden will send about 24,000, and Mitsubishi about 4,000.
Mr Asano said consumer confidence and showroom traffic in the Middle East was down.
But he said the situation was "amazingly normal" considering the outbreak of hostilities.
Mitsubishi Australia president Tom Phillips said his company had put a hold on a shipmentof about 200 cars to Kuwait but its export program to the US remained on track, despitefears of a downturn in demand across the industry there because of the war.
Mr Phillips said it was fortunate that most deliveries to the US came in the secondhalf of the year, particularly after September which marked the start of a new model yearin North America.
He said Mitsubishi expected to send about 15,000 cars to the US this year.
"That's still the target," he said.
AAP tjd/tnf
KEYWORD: IRAQ MOTOR EXPORTS
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