The squeeze on imports is generating distortions unprecedented, even until recently, within car dealerships. Some Toyota brand models no longer available for this year: you have to sit back and wait until 2024 to get a unit of Corolla Cross, Hilux SW4 or Yaris.
Of course, there is a market for “immediate delivery” farm-to-table units, which are more expensive: about 35% more than the list price, if we take the offers published on the Mercado Libre portal as a reference: a Corolla Cross by 11.3 million pesos is sold for $39,500, equivalent to $15.3 million.
But if the prospective purchaser of some of these models is not willing to guarantee excessive prices of four million pesos or even morethen we must resign ourselves to paying a deposit and entering a waiting list, at an “open price”, the delay for which has already exceeded the remaining nine months of this year.
“Something is happening with our brand that we don’t see in other dealerships as we continue with sustained demand and supply constraints,” he said. clarion a Toyota dealer in Buenos Aires. “80% of local production is exported throughout Latin America and us we are loyal customers of Toyota Argentinawho basically takes care of himself obsessively that Toyota of Thailand does not sell Hilux or SW4 around here“, He added.
Toyota produces the pickup in Argentina hilux and its “suv” version, the SW4. Models like the Corolla, Corolla Cross, Etios and Yaris I am imported From Brasil.
“At the same time, vehicles coming from Brazil arrive in quotas set by the government, which limits the SIRA due to lack of dollars,” added the dealer. Other models that came from outside the area, such as RAV4, Land Cruiser or Camry, stopped importing them directly. “You had to wait a year to get the dollars to pay them and the risk of being barefoot in the event of any disclosure of the exchange rate was very high”, added the Buenos Aires dealer.
Conclusion? “We have more than one model whose delivery we cannot commit until 2024such as Corolla Cross, Yaris and Hilux SW4″.
The case of Toyota is not repeated in other brands of the so-called “generalists” such as Fiat, Peugeot, Chevrolet or Volkswagenwhich have models of local production whose delivery is specified, in some cases, in a matter of few weeks.
Fiat Cronos and Peugeot 208 have been the best-selling zero kilometer models for over a year, also because there is enough supply. These are models produced in the country and, in general, automotive terminals today they have no restrictions on the entry of auto parts, according to the owner of one of the best-selling car companies.
“We are delivering the Fiat Cronos and the Peugeot 208 in three weeks, without surcharges. On the other hand, models imported from Brazil, such as the Fiat Toro pickup, take longer,” said the manager of a Buenos Aires dealership.
Today, automobile manufacturers with plants in the country are concentrated, grouped in the Association of Automobile Manufacturers (ADEFA). pretty much everything of cars sold in Argentina: over 400,000 zero kilometers sold last year, brands that do not belong to ADEFA and that are grouped in the CIDOA chamber, they barely sold 5,000 units1.25% of the total.
Within that narrow quota of imported cars, many of the high endwhat circulates directly is the one dollar bill. One of the brands that make up CIDOA no longer uses pesos to pay for vehicles that they can import from the Ministry of Commerce, which is the body responsible for granting permits for the Import System (SIRA).
“We take our customers’ dollars and give them back to the brand, so we don’t have to wait 180 days for the Central Bank to authorize us to buy dollars. That forces us to compete with a dollar of 389 pesos, instead of the other brands that operate with a dollar of 212 pesosof course,” explained the owner of the brand, of Asian origin.
Ugo Belcastrohead of CIDOA, said for his part that the brands must go through three instances: in addition to the SIRA and the 180 term imposed by the Central Bank, they must have the procedure called Financial economic coefficient (CEF), prepared by the AFIP.
“All CIDOA brands vehicles may enter. But apart from some delays by SIRA, a new constraint has also influenced, the CEF, which according to some AFIP criteria allows or does not allow to upload SIRA“, explained Belcastro, who expressed the annoyance that the new procedure has generated among importers, whose market share is now at a historical level. “With these problems it becomes more difficult to schedule productions. For now we can continue to operate,” said the entrepreneur.
Source: Clarin
