Puerto Rico car sales mark 9th month of decline in Oct.
Puerto Rico auto sales continued descending in October. (Credit: © Mauricio Pascual)
Motor vehicle sales in Puerto Rico skidded into their ninth month of steady decline in October, when activity declined by 19.7 percent year-over-year, the United Automobile Importers Group revealed Monday.
The group known as GUIA for its initials in Spanish that represents the Puerto Rico automotive industry, expressed “concern” upon revealing the dismal data just two months before the end of the year.
In October, Puerto Rico’s automaker sold a total of 8,093 units, in comparison to the 6,500 sold during the same month last year.
The accumulated demand in Puerto Rico for the January to October 2014 period, was of 71,260 units, a cumulative decline of 11.9 percent over the same period last year when the sector sold 80,854 units. During the month of October, the decline in retail sales represented a fall of 21 percent — 6,304 units, versus 7,963 in 2013, GUIA said.
“Given this pattern of an ongoing slowdown in the automobile market it is inevitable that the year will end with sales well below those of last year, when 100,559 units were sold,” said José Ordeix, president of GUIA. “So far, it appears that 2014 sales will close near 85,000 units, which is a significant drop for this industry.”
