JEDDAH, 15 January 2007 — The Saudi car-buyer’s loyalty to Chevrolet continues unabated, judging by the 2006 sales figures for the Kingdom. December 2006 proved the best month ever for sales and came as the pinnacle of a 38-month non-stop increase in sales. In 2006 alone, sales were up 17 percent over the previous year.

The total figure for sales in the Kingdom for 2006 was 83,710 units. This growth has been fuelled by a succession of new car and SUV launches in 2006, which included the debut of the Chevrolet Tahoe and the re-introduction of the ever-popular Chevrolet Suburban marque in the Kingdom.

A best ever month of sales in the Middle East in December took total annual sales to 140,509, an increase of 24 percent over 2005. This figure demonstrates a tripling of GM’s sales in the region in the last three years.

“Our continued success is driven by the growing popularity of all our brands, but especially by Chevrolet,” commented Terry Johnsson, managing director of GM Middle East. “We launched 17 new models or new generations of existing models in 2006 and these have been very well received by customers throughout the Middle East.”

Chevrolet is the main driver of the GM growth in Saudi Arabia. The Caprice has an iconic status in the Kingdom and the new, more compact but much sportier model appeals to the burgeoning market of first time, younger car buyer.

In 2006, sales of Chevrolet alone in Saudi Arabia were up by 24 percent to 57,677. Cadillac and HUMMER, in a parallel spurt of growth, saw sales grow by 15 percent to 1,516, while GMC recorded a 5 percent increase to 24,479.

GM’s success in Saudi Arabia is mirrored throughout the Middle East, with the automaker enjoying tremendous growth across almost all regional markets. Sales in the United Arab Emirates, another key market for GM, grew by an impressive 61 percent to 15,855, while sales in Kuwait were up 5 percent to 18,289.

GM also enjoyed growth in the remaining Gulf markets of Oman (up 43 percent to 2,320), Qatar (up 46 percent to 5,254) and Bahrain (up 19 percent to 2,303). In the Levant markets (Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) sales grew by 11percent to 5,482. Iraq sales were up 189 percent to 7,065.

Chevrolet Caprice continues to be the top selling model in the region, increasing in volume by 10 percent to 18,163.