The Argentine subsidiary of Volkswagen expects 2023 to be a year with slight variations in terms of production and sales: some indicate 74,000 units produced in Argentina, just over 71,000 this year. And three pitches.
Towards the middle of the year the irruption of the track pole, the sedan that will replace the discontinued Gol. The Polo Track will therefore be the entry-level model of the compact sedan (B-segment) developed in Brazil for various markets in the region. There will be two more exits. The new redesigned version of Tiguan all the space (imported from Mexico) and new THE wind.
Fact: the Polo Track will be the priority model, among those imported from Brazil, because the goal is to satisfy the demand for savings plans, which today account for a quarter of VW’s sales in the country. The rest of the sales are made, 25% with financing from the terminal itself and the remaining 50% in cash.
Although of the three novelties, two correspond to what is known as a sedan (with a trunk separated from the passenger compartment) or a hatchback (integrated) in VW, they recognize that the market shows a clear direction: growth of SUVs and pick ups. In fact in Argentina there is the particularity that 20% of total terminal sales are pick ups. In the company they recognize that some is due to market preference and some because pick-ups are applied a VAT of only 10.5%. And indeed the pick up is bought by those who cannot find other models such as 4x4s, for example.
This is the general screenshot he made in front of reporters Marcello Puigthe Brazilian who drives the VW to Argentina from the General Pacheco plant.
In the projections, they assume that the the availability of foreign currency which will be sold to them by the Government will remain unchanged (nothing more, nothing less) and the production mix will also be similar: the presence of the Amarok pickup and the Taos SUV is strong.
From the brand they highlighted that local production is focusing on the segments that are growing the most in Argentina. Thanks to this, in 2022 the production of the Pacheco plant grew by 65 percent compared to 2021 and so did exports, in this case by 35 percent. The key to increasing shipments abroad is the Taos, a model in great demand from Brazil.
As for the Córdoba plant, dedicated exclusively to production manual gearboxesPuig acknowledges that production will remain stable around 480,000 units, well below the nearly million pieces that were manufactured there. It is the logical consequence of the advance of automatic transmissions which equip more and more models of the brand.
The commercial director of Volkswagen Group Argentina, Martin Maximinus, has relativized the question of prices, something that some consumers agree to pay to shorten the waiting time for the vehicle. “In recent months, with stable and volume production and the availability of imported products, this problem is under control. At VW we are working on the release of simis which has worked well”. And do you expect them? “Today the demand for Amarok and Taos is strong, and on average we are waiting between 30 and 45 days”.
Source: Clarin
