Car sales in Argentina fall 50% in first quarter of 2019

The Association of Automobile Dealers of Argentina (ACARA) announced Argentina’s domestic sales of new cars dropped by 49.5% to 139,086 units (locally produced and imported) in the first quarter of 2019, year-on-year. For the first time in 17 years March sales fell lower than that of February; March saw a drop of 3.1% on February sales.

“These are months with extremely worrying numbers, and in order to see the first quarter like this one, where patents (registration of new cars) did not exceed 140,000 units, we must refer to 2006, a year that ended with 450,000 (new registrations),” said ACARA President Dante Álvarez.

Data from Argentina’s Vehicle Manufacturers’ Association (Adefa) shows the country’s car exports reached 26,834 units in the first two months of 2019, down 9.5% from 29,646 units year-on-year. That said, Argentina slightly picked up vehicle shipments in February, up 1% to 19,431 units from 19,237 last year. Lack of domestic sales and exports negatively impacted the South American country’s vehicle manufacturing in the first bimester of 2019, down 22.1% to 47,465 units compared to 60,943 units in the same period the year before.

Argentina’s auto industry is currently suffering from the country’s economic downturn. According to MercoPress, the local vehicle industry is only utilizing 25% of its potential capacity. The country employs over 70,000 people directly in the automotive industry.

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