The high inflation of recent months, added to salary adjustments that did not keep up with the pace of price increases, caused a strong loss of purchasing power in the income of Argentines. Although the problem affects all sectors, there are areas such as automotivewhich is among the hardest hit.
On the other hand, the exchange gap It distorts the price relationship, in an industry directly related to the fluctuations of the dollar. Although the official price was adjusted at a slower pace, the economy is moved by the value of the exchange rates that can be accessed, whether financial dollars or the “blue”.
The combination of all these factors made the purchase of a 0 km increasingly difficult.
While when assuming Alberto FernandezIn December 2019, around 44 minimum wages were required; last November, before the devaluation, around 63 were needed. That is, almost 50% more.
But now 71 salaries are needed. About eight salaries more than at the end of the Fernández government and 27 more than the last month of Macri’s administration.
The most accessible model on the market today is the Fiat Mobiwhich recently began to be marketed in Argentina. Its value is $19,291,000.
Meanwhile, the minimum living and mobile wage this month is $271,571. That implies that it is needed, exactly. 70.89 salaries.
In January 2020, the cheapest 0 km started at $600,000 and went up to $800,000. These were models such as the Fiat Mobi, the Chevrolet Onix or the Renault Kwid. Others were added to those, in the range of more than $700,000. For example, VW Gol, Chery QQ, Nissan March, Peugeot 301 and Fiat Uno.
Of that group of small 0 km, the VW UP and the Toyota Etios were the highest. price with values of $800,000 and $815,000, respectively. That month, the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage was $16,875. If an average value of about $740,000 is taken for those ten models, the result is that 43.8 salaries were required to be able to buy them.
An additional fact is that many of those cars They are no longer sold in the market because, as a result of the loss of purchasing power and different commercial strategies, automotive companies offer models from the mid-size segment onwards where greater profitability is obtained.
The entry-level models offered by brands today are above the most accessible 0 km of four years ago. The Fiat Cronos, for example, is a larger car than the Mobi and for a long time it was the entry-level car, the Nissan Versa is not comparable to the March or the VW Polo is different from the Gol. The same happens in the comparison of the Renault Sandero, the most accessible of the French brand, in relation to the Kwid.
At the end of last year, the list prices of these models were around $10,000,000 in most of their versions. There were some exceptions such as the Citroën C3, which has a version at $7,971,500 and the Chevrolet Joy, also with a version at $7,975,900.
He minimum wage In November it was $146,000.
Taking an average value (between $9,000,000 and $9,500,000) of the most affordable models, 63.3 salaries were needed to buy one of the cheapest cars.
Source: Ambito
