The Minister of Economy, Sergio Massaannounced the five-year extension of the Motopartismo Regime, until December 2028. It is a claim that the 16 companies in the sector have been making for some time, several of which have set up motorcycle assembly plants in recent years. Overall, the industrial leg of these 16 companies today adds up to 1,500 operators.
Massa announced it on Wednesday, during the inauguration of the second edition of the Motorcycle showroomin La Rural, where some 200 markswith patterns of a variety Impressive in the current context of import restrictions.
“We have an obligation to give them certainties. That certainty that they need for the next 5 years is already in place for the period 2023-2028, obviously with a central condition for us, which is to gradually add manpower, gradually add local content and pieces”. Presidential candidate (until two hours before the inauguration, the minister had not confirmed his presence). “The more local value added, the more Argentine labor, the lower the level of imports and the greater the volume, production capacity and domestic market support for Argentina,” he added.
Currently the motorcycle industry is supported by assembly lines where disassembled motorcycles are assembled are imported as “kits”. The motorcycle parts regime requires the incorporation of assembly plants a minimum of 2% local parts for each unitand that the average number of local shares per company be 9%.
Instead, the government discount import tariffs to these companies, which in the case of kits imported from outside Mercosur amounts to 20%. The import is finished at the official exchange.
This regime came out in February 2019 with Decree 81 of the Macri government, 81/19, with five-year validity and the obligation that the integration of local pieces per company go from an initial 5% in 2019 to 9% this year.
Many of the companies that they imported motorcycles they adhered to that regime until then and today have assembly plants, including several that import high-end brands such as Kawasaki (Iraola Group), Royal Enfield (Grupo Simpa) or the most recent ducats Cordoba (Volkswagen), among others.
Another detail, not secondary, is that with this regime a 97% of motorcycles patented in 2022 (410,000 in total, a number that even surpassed vehicle registration plates) it had a kind of local assembly and integration. It is barely a level of industrialization nascent: its big sisters, the automakers grouped under ADEFA, produce vehicles with levels of integration ranging from 15% and 60%.
In total there are 16 motorcycle assemblers, grouped in the Chamber of Motorcycle Builders (CAFAM). its owner, Lin Stefanuto, told Clarín that overall the assembly lines employ around 1,500 workers. “About 3,000 people work in the companies, ranging up to 5,000 if we count motorcycle parts manufacturers. Today around 1,500 workers work on the assembly lines of the companies grouped in CAFAM”, said the entrepreneur.
With the extension of the scheme, Massa proposed that the integration of local parties “increase the national integration of motorcycles by more than 50% and develop an export profile in the region and the world”. This would mean that with the extension companies would have to proceed a 15% floor for its local integration by the end of 2028.
As for employment, according to Economy “the new five-year scheme aims to generate new investments in the sector of over 100 million dollars, savings of 80 million dollars a year in imports and 800 new jobs of quality”. This would represent a 50% increase in labor compared to current levels.
Source: Clarin
