Sitting down for a coffee in Riyadh or Jeddah’s fashionable Tahlia Street, every conceivable car seems to pass by. Ferraris, Fords and even Fiestas grace the roads of the Kingdom’s well-known cities. The automobile is the main form of entertainment for many residents.

The largest car market in the region, authorized dealers sell more than 500,000 models every year in the Kingdom, with thousands more being shipped in. Last year was a bumper year for local distributors, with Land Rover and Jaguar dealer al-Saif Motors, Abdul Lateef Jameel and other players announcing record sales.

But the festive season didn’t bring much cheer to car dealers. Many Saudis are asking, when giants such as GMC, Toyota, and Chrysler are dropping prices across the US, why are they being asked to pay more overseas?

Saudis have vented their dissatisfaction with the Kingdom’s car industry by waging an online campaign against large distributors such as Abdul Lateef Jameel, Saudi’s Toyota dealership. Thousands of potential buyers have been posting and reading comments on chat Web sites asking why they’re paying up to 10 percent more for certain car models. “How could Abdul Lateef raise its prices of the Lexus S? I don’t understand the logic, when the parent company is lowering costs and is making fewer cars!” wrote Adel1394.

One of the most popular campaigns, named “Let it Rust,” has become a rallying cry for disgruntled buyers. With few civil bodies able to exert their influence, consumers have assembled online to boycott purchasing. Toyota, the Kingdom’s most popular car brand, may be the hardest hit, thanks to a common perception that its distributor recently raised prices. A letter sent to the minister of trade asking for help in halting the campaign was recently leaked to the public through chat rooms. It was apparently sent by Mohammed Abdul Lateef Jameel, head of the firm that was founded by his father.

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