P.R. auto sales soar by 32.7% year-over-year in September
The United Group of Automobile Importers announced that new car sales in Puerto Rico reached 8,335 units, a 32.7 percent increase when compared to the 2,271 vehicles sold in the same month last year.
The group known as GUIA for its initials in Spanish said the fastest growing segments for the month were vans, minivans, SUVs and pick-up trucks. So far this year, retail sales have increased 33.3 percent and fleet sales have increased 26.8 percent.
“We continue to see the effect of the growth in demands for cars after Hurricane María,” said Ricardo M. García, president of GUIA.
“What continues to be constant is that the fastest growing segments are primarily those that identify with the island’s reconstruction efforts,” he said.
“The industry anticipates that this percentage growth will gradually be reduced in the coming months as it will be compared with a greater stabilization of sales volumes after the hurricane,” said García.
“GUIA joins in the recommendations that other groups have made, that to move the economy it is necessary to put into effect alternatives to reduce the operational costs of businesses, including the elimination of the inventory tax, because otherwise the growth will only be in the short term and that does not suit either the government, the companies, or the consumer,” he said.
“It is the responsibility of all sectors, both governmental and private, to continue working in the same direction to move the island’s economy,” García said.
GUIA is an independent, nonprofit organization created in 2006 to manage issues directly related to the automobile industry, as well as Puerto Rico’s general economy. GUIA members represent 23 auto brands and over 96 percent of total new vehicle sales in Puerto Rico.
