An Iraqi car dealer works at his automobile lot April 1 in Baghdad. Business, not bombs, is booming at Baghdad car dealerships, as well-heeled Iraqis begin to take advantage of the relative calm in Iraq to indulge in a passion long out of reach: new, luxury cars.

Baghdad ? Business, not bombs, is booming at Baghdad car dealerships, as well-heeled Iraqis are indulging in a passion long out of reach: spiffy, new cars.

BMWs, Nissans, Hyundais and even military-style Hummers are now weaving around the shabby, smoke-belching wrecks and donkey carts that have clogged the streets over two decades of sanctions and war.

That may make Baghdad one of the few cities worldwide where the auto industry is doing relatively well — at least compared with the worst of the war, when sales were stagnant. With its limited banking system, Iraq has largely avoided the global financial meltdown.

And unlike elsewhere in the world, gas prices — about $1.52 a gallon — aren’t much of a deterrent.

Not so long ago, cruising the capital in a new car was asking for trouble. Carjackers were seemingly everywhere.

Those bad days are not entirely over. But with violence ebbing, Iraqis who can afford it are eager to live large and bask in the status that only a nice new car can bring.

“Despite the high price, driving a new car gives me a great sense of happiness and comfort,” said Muhannad Khazim as he cruised an upscale neighborhood with three friends in a 2007 Hyundai Elantra he’d bought two days earlier.

The city traffic department refused to say how many new cars were registered over the last year.

But showrooms are popping up in safer neighborhoods around town to meet the demand. They are offering selections from sleek sports cars to four-wheel-drive behemoths, most imported from Amman, Jordan, or Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Imad Hassan said sales at his Aqaba Dealership in east Baghdad soared about 90 percent in 2008 over the previous year, when fighting in the city peaked.

Last year, he said,, he sold about three cars a day. So far this year he’s selling about three cars per week, a slump that he says has little to do with the global downturn.

Hassan expects sales to rebound now that the Iraqi government has finally approved a new budget after a drop in oil prices forced several revisions.

Gasoline prices throughout the Middle East are lower than in the U.S. and Western Europe. Iraq lifted fuel subsidies in 2004 and hiked gasoline prices 19-fold. Since then, prices at the pump have been fairly stable. Security had kept motorists off the streets.

Hassan Saleh, who sells Japanese and South Korean four-wheel-drive vehicles and American-made Hummers at another east Baghdad dealership, attributes the boom to better security, which has given Iraqis the confidence to treat themselves to luxuries.

That’s not to say Iraqis don’t face problems with a new car. There is no auto insurance offered in Iraq. Owners have to shell out in full for any repairs or maintenance. And although the risks of violent trouble are less than they used to be, they haven’t disappeared entirely.

But that’s not enough to discourage Iraqis from shelling out $27,000 for a 2006 Mustang, $80,000 for a four-wheel-drive BMW or $55,000 for an Infiniti.

“Despite the world economic crisis, Iraq is still the land of big opportunities and flourishing business,” said Hassan, the dealer in east Baghdad. “And more and more people are getting rich.”