Saudi Arabia is hosting its first women-only car show.The event is being held in a shopping mall in the port city of Jeddah, and comes just a few months after a royal decree lifted a longstanding ban on women driving in the kingdom.
The law was revoked in September as part of a liberalization program led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, and amid growing protests by women who were getting behind the wheel in defiance of the restriction.
The show, promoted as “Drive and Shop,” features cars from Nissan, Toyota, Kia and other foreign brands and is focused on fuel efficient vehicles, according to Reuters.
“It is known that women are the largest section who shop in malls,” said Sharifa Mohammad, the heads the exhibition’s saleswomen. “This whole mall is run by women anyway. All the cashiers are women. Everyone in the restaurants are women,” said head auto saleswoman Sharifa Mohammad.Saudi Arabia's growing automotive market is worth roughly $20 billion annually.