Puerto Rico new car sales up 11.7% Y-O-Y in September
Despite challenges posed by measures implemented to curb the spread of COVID-19, Puerto Rico’s new car sales reflected an 11.7% year-over-year growth in September, with 8,427 units sold vs. the 7,546 sold in the same year-ago month.
The United Automobile Importers Group said, however, that sales from January to September are 20.7% below the same period last year.
This month, the segments that showed the largest percentage jumps were vans, with an increase of 218.8%, minivans, with 108.9%, full-size sedans, with 42.1% and SUVs, with an increase of 13.6%.
“We believe that the auto industry has been very resilient during these times of pandemic since, despite the fact that we were affected by the closing our operations for 10 weeks between March and May, and in compliance with subsequent executive orders, we continue to work at limited capacity, strictly following all the protocols required by government entities and yet, the industry has managed to exceed last year’s totals, now for four consecutive months,” said Ricardo M. García, president of GUIA, as the trade group is known.
“The truth is that in the macro, we’re still more than 20% below last year for the same date. However, it’s proven that cars are highly necessary on our island and thanks to the great support from banks, the hard work of the dealers in trying to recover what was lost, and the backing of our customers, we’re hopeful that our revised forecasts may still improve for this last quarter, as the pattern of aggressive offers continues and new model year units start to arrive,” García said.
GUIA is an independent, nonprofit organization that was created in 2006 to address matters that directly affect the automotive industry, as well as issues related to Puerto Rico’s general economy.
