P.R.’s new car sales up 13.1% year-over-year in February
Puerto Rico’s new car sales reflected a 13.2 percent year-over-year increase in February, the United Automobile Importers Group revealed.
The group known as GUIA for its initials in Spanish, represents Puerto Rico’s automotive industry and keeps track of new car sales.
February ended with a total of 7,720 units sold in Puerto Rico in contrast to the sales for the same month last year of 6,828 units. When the most recent totals are added to the month of January, so far this year, the increase is 9.2 percent, GUIA stated.
The fastest growing segment for the month of February was the SUV market, with 46.4 percent followed by the vans segment, with an increase of 44.4 percent compared to the previous year. In addition, there was an increase in fleet sales of 46.6 percent, which contributed to the month’s growth, GUIA executives said.
“We see how the market trend toward favoring SUVs continues to
move favorably. It is a trend similar to what is happening worldwide,” said GUIA President Ricardo M. García. “However, of all the segments that the industry is divided into, only three have increased so far this year: SUVs, vans and minivans.”
“This keeps dealers on alert, since the expectations have been
that due to the reconstruction work, other segments shouldn’t be paralyzed, like pickups, for example, that have decreased by 13 percent so far this year,” he said.
“This segment is a good indicator of the island’s economic movement and progress of the reconstruction work,” García said.
“For this reason, we ask government entities to continue their efforts to obtain the federal aid for the reconstruction that has been assigned to us and to continue supporting the economic development of local private companies to achieve sustainable growth in the future and not become an industry of peaks and valleys,” said García.
GUIA is an independent, nonprofit organization that was created in 2006 to address issues that directly concern the automotive industry, as well as issues related to Puerto Rico’s general economy. GUIA members represent 23 car brands and more than 96 percent of the total sales of new vehicles in Puerto Rico.
