Priority Automobile signs deal with Northern Gulf

Hyundai dealer to provide 300 lease vehicles

Mosaab Al-Kharji, Talal Al-Shehab and Raed Turjuman pose after signing the agreement.

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 21: As part of Hyundai’s continued growth in the local market, Northern Gulf — Hyundai’s exclusive dealer in Kuwait — recently signed an agreement with Priority Automobile to provide 300 lease vehicles, including all supporting services.

The agreement demonstrates Priority Automobile’s confidence in the quality and reliability Hyundai vehicles offer. It also recognizes Northern Gulf’s customer-centric philosophy that has helped Hyundai grow its market share locally, making it one of Kuwait’s leading brands, and one of the fastest growing markets in the region.

Priority Automobile was established in 2006, and is considered one of Kuwait’s most prestigious rent and lease companies with a paid-in capital of 6 million Kuwaiti Dinars. Priority Automobile offers a wide range of luxury vehicles, sedans and compacts, as well as a variety of supporting services to both individuals and companies.

On the occasion, Raed Turjuman, Northern Gulf’s CEO said, “The trust Priority Automobile have placed in Hyundai’s vehicles is well-founded and a sound investment, and is indicative of the success of our customer-centric business strategy.” He also elaborated on the host of supporting services that Northern Gulf will be offering, which will include comprehensive insurance, replacement car services during servicing or repair, road side assistance around the clock as well as premium servicing at any of Hyundai’s qualified and well-equipped service centres. Mosaab Al-Kharji was also present during the event.

Turjuman then went on to reiterate Northern Gulf’s commitment to supporting the Hyundai brand, by delivering this through world-class showrooms and service centres. It is also committed to Hyundai’s customer centric philosophy, and priorities customer satisfaction both before and after every purchase. Northern Gulf is actively involved on a local level and through a variety of social media channels, and consistently improves its website to ensure updated information is always available.

All of these initiatives contribute to support Hyundai’s world-wide challenge of older legacy brands.

Commenting on the agreement, Talal Shehab, Chairman of the Board at Priority Automobiles, said working with Northern Gulf comes as part of the company’s own strategy to offer the best possible offers and services to companies and public tender requirements. He also said that Priority Automobile was committed to offering its customers a wide selection of vehicles designed to suit their specific needs and requirements, with a choice from three Priority categories. BAKU, Dec 21, (AFP): Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose economy has been hit hard by falling oil prices, withdrew support for its embattled currency on Monday and the manat plunged by nearly a third against the greenback.

“The central bank took the decision to switch to a floating exchange rate for the national currency as of December 21,” the regulator said in a statement.

The central bank said the decision was taken because “falling oil prices and the continuing devaluation of partner countries’ currencies has begun to negatively affect the Azerbaijani economy.”

The manat was trading at 1.55 against the dollar on Monday, down 32.3 percent from Friday.

The country’s central bank has spent more than half of its foreign currency reserves to support the currency, which has been in free fall since the beginning of the year.

Following Monday’s move, the bank’s currency reserves increased by 3.1 billion manats ($2.9 billion; 2.7 billion euros).

Azerbaijan’s decision came after the energy-rich Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan abandoned its currency band for a free-floating exchange earlier this year.

Analysts said the move would not affect the Russian ruble but would negatively impact the majority of regional currencies.

“The move can be considered to be neutral for Russia: the weak ruble, in addition to low oil prices, was itself the trigger for Azerbaijan’s currency move,” said Oleg Kouzmin, an economist with Renaissance Capital.

He described the prospects for Kazakhstan’s tenge as “slightly negative,” adding that the Georgian lari — which has lost nearly 45 percent of its value against the dollar since November 2014 — is expected to be most affected.

Energy exports constitute up to three quarters of Azerbaijan’s state revenues, making the Caucasus country’s economy highly dependent on global oil prices.

The Caspian nation in February abandoned its dollar peg and switched to a dollar-and-euro basket and also devalued the manat by more than 33 percent.

Oil prices extended losses Monday, with Brent at one point sinking 2.1 percent to $36.09 a barrel — its weakest since July 2004.