P.R.’s new car sales on downward spiral in July, with 21.2% drop
The United Automobile Importers Group announced that a total of 7,631 new cars were sold in Puerto Rico last month, representing a 21.2% decrease compared to the 9,724 units sold during the same month last year.
The trade group known as GUIA for its initials in Spanish, said the segments that saw the biggest sales drops in July 2019 were sedans, with a whopping 46.6% decrease, followed by the mini compact segment with 37.6% fewer units sold year-over-year and the minivan segment with a 37.2% decrease.
There was not a single segment that showed year-over-year growth when compared to July 2018, GUIA’s data showed.
“As we can see, this month suffered a blow in sales across all segments of the car industry,” said Ricardo García, president of GUIA.
“The events that took place in July impacted our economy and Puerto Rican society in general. The industry had two consecutive months with numbers below the previous year and the situation worsened with last month’s government-related issues. In addition, fleet sales fell significantly over last year by 79%,” he said.
“What the island needs is union to achieve greater economic stability, which would lead to greater investments by private companies,” he said. “We have to work together in all private and governmental sectors to create consumer confidence and economic optimism for our Puerto Rico,” García said.
Through its GUIAEduca initiative, the group will be sponsoring the third educational seminar of this year, on Aug. 27 at the Vivo Beach Club, starting at 8 a.m. The “Puerto Rico: Where are we headed economically?” workshop is the 6th in the series hosted by GUIAEduca.
GUIA is an independent, nonprofit organization that was created in 2006 to address issues directly related to the automotive industry, as well as issues related to Puerto Rico’s general economy.
The members of GUIA represent 23 car brands and more than 96% of the total sales of new vehicles in Puerto Rico.
