Irakli Gurchiani, the founder of Toyota Center Tbilisi expects that the sales of the company will increase by 10% this year.
According to Gurchiani, the purchasing power of the population grew compared to previous years and it had a positive effect on car sales.
"During the time of Shevardnadze, we had no economy at all. Today we are growing slowly, and purchasing power of the population is growing as well. If there has not been the burning of semiconductor factories in China and Thailand, as well as the problems in the world auto industry, the growth of "Toyota Center Tbilisi" would be high in Georgia. However, under the circumstances, due to the shortage of semiconductors, not only Toyota, but also other car manufacturers have 4-5 year queues of customers. We are not like that, but we also have 4-5 month queues. Toyota's factory is operating at 30-40% load, and this number is not enough for the world market", says Gurchiani.
Due to the challenges, the sales of "Toyota Center Tbilisi" decreased by approximately 40% compared to the pre-pandemic period. However, the founder of the company still expects growth this year.
"This year, the sales of "Toyota Center Tbilisi" will increase by about 10%, because the number of cars is limited. This was not our target indicator. We planned to sell about 1,500 cars during the year, but now it will be good if we reach 700-800 cars. There are many buyers, but there are no cars. Despite the fact that the country is not very rich, there are so many buyers here that they can absorb the quantities of new cars not only from Toyota, but also from all other manufacturers," explained the founder of "Toyota Center Tbilisi".
