Puerto Rico’s new car sales showed 5.6% growth in August
Puerto Rico’s new car sales totaled 8,695 units in August 2020, up 5.6% from the 8,236 vehicles sold during the same month last year, the United Automobile Importers Group confirmed.
However, so far this year the industry maintains a cumulative sales drop of 24.3%, trade group officials said.
The segments that showed slight increases in August 2020 were the vans segment, with an increase of 37%, the SUV segment, with an increase of 14%, and the minivan segment with an increase of 11.2%.
“For the third consecutive month, the industry finished with higher numbers than the same month last year,” said Ricardo M. García, president of GUIA, as the group is known in Spanish.
“We know that this pattern is due to the pent-up demand that exists due to closure of dealerships for two and a half months and as a result of the federal funds that reached the island. For this reason, GUIA now forecasts that new car sales will be around 85,000 units in 2020,” he said.
GUIA is an independent, nonprofit organization that was created in 2006 to address issues that directly affect Puerto Rico’s automotive industry, as well as matters related to the island’s general economy.
