He car prices started to drop within the framework of a sharp drop in sales: so far this year, 0km vehicles have fallen more than 30%, according to patent data from the Association of Automotive Dealers (ACARA)
In the month of March, this decline deepened, with a drop in sales compared to the previous year of almost 37%. In dealerships you can already find discounts of up to 25%.
A week ago several brands came out offer “zero rate” plansbut for amounts between five and 12 million pesos maximum, for units whose list price is between 20 and 60 million pesos.
Pickups are the most affected
Toyota notified its dealers that in April They will maintain the same prices as in February For the Hilux and other brands there are sales at the counters.
If the estimates of private consultants are taken, the accumulated inflation in the two months between February and March would be around 26%: that is, in fact, the implicit price reduction that Toyota Argentina has just communicated to its network of dealerships.
Currently, pickup trucks are the models most prone to sales. The most economical version of the Volkswagen Amarok, the 2.0 TDI double cabin, had been left at the beginning of March at a list price of 52 million pesos.
By the middle of the month, when customers were scarce, a group of dealerships began offering them at $47 million, 10% below.
Another locally manufactured pickup, the Renault Alaskan Comfort 4×2, has been published at a list price of 38.3 million pesos since the beginning of March. But in several dealerships of the rhombus brand you can get it for $34.7 million. Again, 10% below list price.
Staff cuts and few sales
renault announced the reduction of 270 contracts in its Santa Isabel factory due to the drop in sales in the domestic market. Also toyota opened a voluntary withdrawal program, although due to the drop in its exports, while General Motors It stopped its production for two weeks due to the exchange rate.
This collapse in sales began practically with the first days of January, but until then the situation was the other way around; there was buyers with dollars in hand and the dealerships did not want to sell to thembecause they did not have a replacement price.
But once the Government released prices on January 25 (it practically doubled the internal tax floor and thus enabled increases in list prices), the automotive terminals applied increases that buyers did not validate.
They had already accumulated 40% since the end of November and with the price increases at the end of January and beginning of February, some list prices reached a 100% increase in just over two months.
Now, the opposite happens: For 60 days the dealerships have been juggling to sell.
The best-selling model of 2023, the Fiat Cronos, remains the one that tops this year’s ranking. But so far this year, its sales have fallen 38% compared to the January-March 2023 period.
The Cronos is sold mainly because many units continue to be delivered as part of the previous savings plans that people bought when there were no cars. But if someone comes to pay it in cash, we give them between 10% and 12% off,” added another dealer of the brand.
The impact on used cars
They are also falling, but to a lesser extent, used quote. Unlike the zero kilometer market, where dealerships have sales goals agreed upon with the automotive terminals, in used agencies the sale price is validated by the owner of the agency.
“No one is going to take a used model at the price that is quoted today by the insurance or the patent, because they are prices that are very close to the real price of zero kilometer,” said Alejandro Lamas, secretary of the Automotive Chamber of Commerce (CCA). .
“There is still a tug-of-war with customers who bring us their units. But clearly the used ones are also going to have to adjust downwards,” he warned.
Source: Ambito
