Prices of 2016 model cars imported from East Asian countries are expected to decline by seven to 14 percent compared to 2015 as a result of falling oil prices and increasing value of US dollar, market analysts said.

They said prices of cars imported from Japan, South Korea, India and China are likely to fall for new models and attributed the fall to declining cost of production and transportation due to a 45% fall in oil prices.

Economist Fahd Al-Mashari said Saudi Arabia would import cars worth SR70 billion ($18.6 billion) in 2015, adding that the figure is expected to fall next year and coming years due to a likely fall in car prices.

He said prices of imported cars would fall because of a 30 percent improvement in the value of Saudi riyal compared to currencies of exporting countries such as Japan and South Korea and 45 percent fall in oil prices.

Meanwhile, a sales official at a Japanese car manufacturing company, who requested anonymity, said car prices are likely to fall as a result of the increasing strength of US dollar against other baskets of currencies.

The Kingdom imported the largest number of vehicles in 2012 when the imports were valued at SR77 billion ($20.5 billion). Being the largest car market in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia imports 679,000 cars on average annually, showing an annual growth of 9.5 percent.