Bolivia Light Vehicle Market in 2014 hit the 11th record in a row with total sales up 3.3% from the previous year at 37.416 units. Suzuki was the market leader. Future outlook stands positive.
Country Outlook
The long-running border dispute between Bolivia and neighbouring Chile will be heard in court and the ruling could have an impact on Bolivia’s oil and natural gas exports. On 4 May, both countries took their claims to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The dispute originates from the late 19th Century when Chile annexed a coastal region that had previously belonged to Bolivia. An agreement was reached in 1904 regarding compensation for the acquired land, however, Bolivian President Evo Morales wants the agreement scrapped.
Should the court rule in Bolivia’s favour, the country would be able to transport its large volumes of liquefied natural gas directly to port without paying Chilean transportation fees.
Bolivia continues to struggle with subdued export revenues as commodity prices remain relatively low. LatinFocus Consensus Forecast panelists expect the economy to expand 4.4% in both 2015 and 2016.
Light Vehicle Market Outlook
In the 2014 total new light vehicles sold in Bolivia had been 37.412, up a little 3.3% from the previous year, enough to post again the all-time record, the 11th in a row as the market is growing since 2004.
The economic expansion would support the growth of the automotive sector in the 2015 and 2016, while the presence of more than 170 car brands, has created the highest level of competition in the World. All CHinese makers have started a distribution activity in Bolivia while several have registered zero vehicles or just few last year.
Competitive Arena
Indeed the market is concentrated heavily with the top 3 brands taking over 50% of market share. As tradition, the market leader in Bolivia is the Japanese Suzuki that in the 2014 had registered 10.849 vehicles with a market share of 29.0%.
The second was Toyota with 4.938 sales and share at 13.2% while Nissan was third with 3.456 sales and share at 9.2%.
