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Car boom hits Baghdad – Metro US

Car boom hits Baghdad

Business, not bombs, is booming at Baghdad car dealerships, as well-heeled Iraqis are indulging in a passion long out of reach — spiffy, new cars.

BMWs, Nissans, Hyundais and even military-style Hummers are now weaving around the shabby, smoke-belching wrecks and donkey carts that have clogged the streets over two decades of sanctions and war.

That may make Baghdad one of the few cities worldwide where the auto industry is doing relatively well — at least compared to the worst of the war, when sales were stagnant.

With its limited banking system, Iraq has largely avoided the global financial meltdown.

And unlike elsewhere in the world, gas prices aren’t much of a deterrent to those Iraqis eager and able to catch up with the good life behind the wheel of a new car.

Not so long ago, cruising the capital in a new car was asking for trouble. Carjackers were seemingly everywhere — either envious militiamen or kidnappers on the lookout for victims with enough cash to pay fat ransoms.

Those bad days are not entirely over. But with violence ebbing, Iraqis who can afford it are eager to live large and bask in the status that only a nice new car can bring.

“Despite the high price, driving a new car gives me a great sense of happiness and comfort,” said Muhannad Khazim as he cruised an upscale neighbourhood with three friends in a 2007 Hyundai Elantra he’d bought two days earlier.

The city traffic department refused to say how many new cars were registered over the last year. But showrooms are popping up in safer neighbourhoods around town to meet the demand.

Hassan Saleh, who sells Japanese and South Korean four-wheel-drive vehicles and American-made Hummers at an east Baghdad dealership, attributes the boom to better security, which has given Iraqis the confidence to treat themselves to luxuries.

“Nowadays, most people are not afraid of driving fancy new cars in the streets. Two years ago, that meant imminent danger of being kidnapped for ransom,” said Saleh.