Sales collapse and import stocks create frustration / Argentina News

The automotive section issued a worrying alarm signal on Tuesday. The number of patented vehicles during November amounted to 28,360 units, which represented a decrease of 18.7% year-on-year, according to the report of the Association of Automotive Dealers (Acara).

The setback in November was tempered by a 1% rise compared to October, but it is not enough to erase the Bad mood by results that are well below what was forecast for this year.

So much so, that the concessionaires did not hesitate to issue a strong demand for the importation of vehicles to be made more flexible to feed the market. It must be remembered that imported ones, held back by the lack of dollars, include many models – not necessarily high-end – that the terminals bring from Brazil or other origins.

The president of Acara, Ricardo Salome He commented: “in the last two months only between nine and ten thousand SIMIS have been released, for the entire industry, we believe that 15,000 could have been released per month since we are going to end the year with only approximately 1,130 million dollars of annual deficit It is a number that if distributed over twelve months is not significant, especially if we take into account that demand has been very strong. ”

And he added: “In this way, We are going to close the year scratching the 380,000 patented vehicles, but with the frustration about what we could have patented 450,000 units. We are excited about being able to grow next year and establish a floor of 400,000 vehicles for all of 2022. Hopefully so because we are a very important source of employment in the country: the entire sector includes 176,000 direct jobs, and if we take the indirect employment that figure grows three times more. We employ 530,000 people and we can be one of the engines of growth that our country needs. ”

For his part Ruben Beato, Secretary General of the institution completed: “work is being carried out with the entire value chain, to adapt and see how we can respond to a market that today demands more than 50% of national cars. Despite the situation, This is an industry that is on the right track, the concessionaires are accompanying us and the objective is to integrate ourselves into the world through Project 2030, where laws have even been presented in the National Congress to go to a scenario of sustainable mobility and accompanying trends future “.

November patents

Acara reported that the number of patented vehicles during November 2021 amounted to 28,360 units, which represents a decrease of 18.7% year-on-year, since in November 2020 34,887 units had been registered. If the comparison is with its predecessor month, a rise of 1% is observed, since in October of this year 28,085 units were patented.

Thus, in the accumulated eleven months of the year, 363,931 units were patented, this is 13% more than in the same period of 2020, in which 321,893 had been registered.

Another blow to dealerships: these cars will go up in price due to a tax

The minimum taxable base of the internal tax that affects different 0Km models will undergo a new update as of December 1, which will be in force until the end of February.

According to the table that will be released by the AFIP, the tax base will have an increase of 8.8%. This indicates that vehicles exceeding the $ 3,430,000 of price to the public they will have to pay the first aliquot of 20%; while the models with values ​​higher than $ 8,600,000 they will be reached by the second scale, of 35 percent.

The modification, which is carried out every three months, will allow several automakers to, those vehicles that have a brake so that the tribute does not reach them and that currently have a value that does not exceed $ 3,100,000 (there are even several versions of the same model with the same value) can be extended to a new limit.

In this way, it is expected that from December there are more increases in the prices of the 0km of the massive brands, since the tax that was originally thought to stop the sale of high-end cars, some time ago stopped affecting only those units and today it is a problem for all companies. In fact, while at first the fear was that the tax would affect the midsize segment of passenger cars and SUVToday the focus is on the category of the youngest and how to make sure that these models do not pay the tax.

On the other hand, the modification will cause the rise in the prices of 0km in 2021 to increase even more, which accumulates between January and November increases that reach the 70 percent.

The changes to come

There are several 0km models that could take a leap from December, when the new official price lists are published.

Taking the November values ​​as a reference, it is observed that many models have the same value but in different versions, which suggests that there is a policy of stopping the increases so that they are not affected by the tax.

This measure was taken by several brands since this tax increased in 2014 and they still retain it: for example Peugeot and Citroën, by internal policy, do not affect any model of national production. So does Chevrolet, for now. And this decision also applies in many cases to cars and SUV boys, where it is about not jumping the barrier.

There are many examples of fictitious “cap”, as seen in three Stellantis brands: Peugeot and Citroën (ex PSA) and Jeep (ex FCA).

Citroën C4 Cactus, many versions at the same price.

One case is with the Citroën C4 Cactus. This SUV imported from Brazil It is offered in 11 types of configurations, of which 9 have a price of 3,046,700 pesos. Also the Citroën C4 Lounge, which was manufactured in the country and which was discontinued a few months ago (there are still some in stock), has the same policy: three of the four versions come out the same, about 3,046,700 pesos.

Peugeot 208: the national car remains outside the tax.

In the case of Peugeot, the decision applies to 208 of national manufacture. Available in 7 versions, four of them are capped at the same value of 3,046,700 pesos, while 2008, which is imported from Brazil, is offered in 4 versions, two with the same value and the fourth reached by the first scale of the assessment.

In the case of Jeep, where an attempt is made to maintain a more accessible version is in the case of the Renegade, where two versions are at $ 3,100,000 and the third exceeds 5,900,000 pesos, that is, it is covered by the tax and widely exceeds it. The change, starting in December, will surely occur in the two entry-level versions.

Jeep Renegade could change prices with the increase in internal tax.

Another case to consider is Chevrolet. The brand that manufactures the Cruze in the country offers this model in three versions ranging between $ 3,000,000 and $ 3,200,000, bordering on the tax. As of December, the values ​​will surely increase.

Chevrolet Cruze, another national that dodges the tax.

In the case of the Chevrolet Onyx, which is the smallest car of the brand and is imported from Brazil, there are six versions, and the top of the range, called Premier, is priced at $ 3,150,000, which indicates that it could have another adjustment. On the other hand, where they did make the jump, it is with the smallest SUV, Tracker: 3 versions average $ 3,100,000, while the full one is at 4,628,000 pesos.

On VolkswagenThe Virtus, a small car with a trunk, has two versions freezed at $ 3,133,000, while the sportier GTS exceeded 4 million pesos. On the other hand, small SUVs like Nivus and T-Cross, also already suffer the impact of the internal tax.

On Renault, the clearest price freezing strategy is seen with the new Duster, that of the eight versions, seven come out 3,118,000 pesos. In any case, it is a vehicle that is lacking in the market, and it is not yet known when they will be able to regularize deliveries.

Finally, Toyota, which produces the Hilux in the local market (because it is a utility vehicle, it does not pay tax) and SW4, applies the internal tax to the SUV and also affects other imported models, such as the Corolla.

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