Vehicle prices are dropping sharply after recording increase between 80% and 100% in less than 100 days. Just as in the last three years surcharges were the rule at dealership counters, 60 days ago the situation changed: now we are discussing discounts compared to the price list published by automotive terminals and the price guides that agencies such as Infoauto magazine follow.
In some cases this reduction is already official: the April Toyota Hilux pick-up will continue with the same list price it had since February. If we take the estimates of private consultants, inflation accumulated in the two months between February and March it would be around 26%: this is, in fact, the implicit reduction in the price that Toyota Argentina has just communicated to its dealer network.
THE pick up These are the models most subject to discounts today. The cheapest version of the Volkswagen Amarok pick-up, the 2.0 TDI double cab, was launched at the beginning of March at a list price of 52 million pesos. Towards the middle of the month, when customers were scarce, a group of dealers began offering them $47 million, 10% less.
Another locally produced pick-up, the Renault Alaskan Comfort 4×2, is published at a list price of 38.3 million pesos since the beginning of March. But in several dealerships of the turbot brand you can buy it $34.7 million. Again, 10% off list price.
This year, sales of zero kilometer vehicles fell by slightly more than this year 30%, according to patent data from the Automotive Dealers Association (ACARA). In March this decline was accentuated, with a drop in sales compared to the same month of the previous year almost 37%.
Some terminals are affected: Renault announced the loss of 270 contracts at the Santa Isabel plant due to the decline in sales on the domestic market. Toyota also began a voluntary recall program, albeit due to falling exports, while General Motors halted production for two weeks due to the exchange rate.
This collapse in sales began practically in the first days of January, but until then the situation was the opposite; There were buyers with dollars in hand and the dealers didn’t want to sell to them, because they didn’t have a replacement price.
But once the government released prices on Jan. 25 (it essentially doubled the domestic tax threshold and thus allowed list prices to rise), auto terminals applied increases that buyers didn’t validate. By the end of November they had already accumulated 40% and with the price increases at the end of January and beginning of February some list prices reached an increase of 100% in just over two months.
Now it’s exactly the opposite: dealers have been juggling sales for 60 days.
“Teverything is on sale at a discounted price. In some cases we sell at a loss,” summarized a major car dealer. Fiat and Peugeot, the main brands of the Stellantis automotive company in the country. The best-selling model of 2023, the Fiat Cronos, remains at the top of this year’s ranking. But so far this year its sales fell by 38% compared to the period January-March 2023.
“The Cronos is being sold primarily because many units continue to be delivered as part of the previous savings plans that people bought when there were no cars. But if someone comes to pay it in cash, we offer you a discount of between 10% and 12%.“added another reseller of the brand.
“Some car terminal managers get nervous because they have to meet targets and the market doesn’t validate their prices. But We are the ones who have been giving up the margin for two months and selling at a loss to pay salaries and taxes.“, an important Toyota dealer in the northern area told Clarín, where the sales premises tend to be more spacious and the lack of visitors is more noticeable. In another, from Volkswagen, they underlined that the more expensive versions of the Amarok ($64 million list price) They start with a 25% bonus.
“We have a new market, where dealers have to go looking for customers,” said Sebastián Beato, director of ACARA.
And the financing? A week ago, several brands proposed “zero interest” plans, but for amounts between 5 and 12 million pesos maximum, for units whose list price is between 20 and 60 million pesos.
“The financing that some brands provide is convenient, but is of low amounts. Even if they help, they are not enough to reverse the context. In this malaria, with so much increase in prices, the financing amounts They would have to at least double to have an impact on sales“added another seller.
Used car prices also decrease, but to a lesser extent. Unlike the zero kilometer market, where dealerships have sales objectives agreed with the automotive terminals, in used agencies the selling price is validated by the agency owner.
“No one will take a used model at the price quoted today by the insurance or the patent, because they are prices very close to the real zero kilometer price,” said Alejandro Lamas, secretary of the Chamber of the Automobile. of Commerce (CCA). “There is still a struggle with customers who bring us their units. But clearly used ones They too will have to adjust downwards.”
Source: Clarin
