As banks are increasingly rejecting vehicle loans, the global economic slowdown is hitting the auto industry in the region, a report said.

The rate of rejections has gone up from five per cent to more than 20 per cent, a senior industry expert was quoted as saying in the Gulf News.

While the UAE and Qatar have seen a notable rise in these cases, Saudi Arabia is hardly affected as there are more cash buyers than customers going in for bank financing in the kingdom.

In the UAE, 70 per cent of the company's cars are sold through bank financing.