Argentina Auto Sales in 2019 collapsed, falling below half a million units, the worst performance in the last 15 years. Indeed Total annual sales were 449.477, down 43.1%. The new President, Alberto Fernandez, just elected at the end of October, found a country in the edge of the financial disaster.
Economic Environment
Argentinian economy most likely slid back into recession in the third quarter and seems to be performing poorly in the fourth quarter. Economic activity slumped in August due to the financial turbulence which followed the unexpectedly large victory of Alberto Fernández in the primary elections and remained mired in contraction in September.
While the external sector probably cushioned the downturn somewhat in Q3 and continued to support growth in October, abysmal consumer confidence in October-November spells trouble for the last quarter of the year.
Next year, the economy will likely remain trapped in recession. Investor concern related to the new government, coupled with sky-high inflation and interest rates, will depress investment and spending, only partly compensated by a good external tone.
Market Trend
Argentina vehicles market in the last decades surfed on waves with sudden falls followed by sharp recovery. The current record was established in the 2013 with 923.000 sales, before to fall down at 620.000 in the 2015 and start the recovery.
A rapid expansion was driven by the implementation of the new National Automotive Plan, sponsored by the Prime Minister, called One Million Plan, aiming to double sector employment in 5 years booming export and domestic demand. The election of Macri’s government, while changed the economic policy, gave new expectations and then boost to the sector, which grown both in 2016 and 2017. Indeed, in the 2017 the market hit the second best results ever, with 892.739 sales (+29.8%).
According to the data released by the ACARA and the ADEFA, in the 2018 the market has been disappointing, as sales dropped by 11.5% closing the year at 789.820. Two distinctive events have marked this negative year: the boom in sales registered in May, with an all-time-record, and the negative trend of following months in a precarious economic environment.
However in the 2019 the huge economic crisis hardly hit the new vehicles demand and the market felt down during all the year ending with final score below the half-million units, with the worst performance in the last 15 years.
Indeed total annual sales have been 449.477, down a deep 43.1%.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all brands, top 10 manufacturers and Top 10 models.
