Cars

There are several factors that affect the fuel consumption of the car, mostly the engine capacity and technology, weight, and fuel type. There is also a standard that determines the energy efficiency of the tires, also the value of fuel consumption for each car changes according to the year of manufacture, as the car’s specifications change with the years, and among these specifications are the technologies used to reduce fuel consumption.

The used car importer must provide a certificate from SASO (Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization) showing that the imported vehicle conforms to the requirements of fuel economy standard. Those wishing to import vehicles can issue the certificate from here: https://www.sls.gov.sa, this does not eliminate any other requirements for importing used vehicles into the Kingdom, such as if they were damaged or used as a taxi, or other requirements that can be known from the Customs Authority.

The fuel economy standard was developed based on a joint effort between all stakeholders in the land transport sector, which are all represented in the land transport team of the Saudi Energy Efficiency Program, (namely: the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Transport, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization, the General Traffic Department, and the Saudi Center for energy efficiency). The standard was also issued by the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization in November 2014, and it will be applied in cooperation with all concerned government agencies, namely: (The Ministry of Commerce, the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization, and the Saudi Center for Energy Efficiency).

The Saudi Energy Efficiency Program, in cooperation with all concerned authorities in the Kingdom, identified the reasons for the low level of energy consumption efficiency in the road transport sector. It concluded that the low rate of vehicle fuel economy is the main reason for the low level of energy consumption efficiency in this sector. The average vehicle fuel economy in the Kingdom is about 12 kilometers per liter of fuel, compared to about 13 kilometers per liter of fuel in the United States of America, 15 kilometers per liter of fuel in China, and 18 kilometers per liter of fuel in Europe! The specialized team in the program has worked with governmental and non-governmental agencies at all local, regional and international levels to prepare the Saudi standard for fuel economy. When starting work on preparing the standard in November 2013, the nature of supply and demand for vehicles in the Kingdom was taken into account, and the authorities contacted international car manufacturers to submit fuel economy reports for their vehicles and take their observations and suggestions regarding achieving continuous improvement in the level of the standard while maintaining technical neutrality and fair competition. And the variety of vehicle options available to consumers, and the process of preparing the standard resulted in the approval and commitment of more than 80 companies representing an industry source of more than 99% of vehicle sales in the Kingdom to apply the Saudi standard for fuel economy in light vehicles, which achieves high savings in consumed energy.

The transportation sector constitutes the third largest consumer of energy in the Kingdom, and its consumption is expected to grow in the future. It is expected that the number of light vehicles will exceed the current stock of vehicles on the road in the next 15 years. Therefore, addressing the energy efficiency of this category of vehicles is very important, and to achieve this goal, a fuel economy standard was developed, and it came into effect on January 1, 2016. The standard aims to improve energy efficiency in light vehicles imported into the Kingdom.