Cuba’s auto market in 2021 rises by 41.6% with 2,209 sales, reporting positive performance all year except for Q4. Peugeot remains the market leader, while Kia chases the throne.
Market Trend
Cuba’s car market this year recovered very effectively from the pandemic crash and reported a loss of sales only in Q4.
As no retail operations are yet allowed in the country, the state corporation CIMEX is the only one in charge of selling vehicles. New vehicles are sold for private customers applying an 800% tax and a 1,500% tax for used vehicles.
Just a few units (less than 10% of the total) are privately purchased and the rest is split by State companies – including public taxis – and rental for tourists.
The 2018 full-year sales have been revised to a level of 4,500 units, which represents the record level and a marginal increase from the previous years.
In 2019 the market plummeted severely, with only 3,015 units registered as the huge level of duties are imposed over import which gave to the cars sold in this Caribbean market the record of the highest price in the World, with a mid-size car costing more than a 100 square meter flat.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic full-Year sales for 2020 have been 1,560, reporting a 48.3% decrease compared to 2019.
In 2021 the year started positively for the Cuban market, in fact, in Q1 600 units have been sold, reporting a 10.1% increase in sales compared to Q1 2020, while in Q2 sales kept growing due to the incredibly low levels of the previous year, reporting a 302.7% increase in sales.
In Q3 529 units were sold, reporting a rise of 69%, while in Q4 the market dropped 13.2% with only 480 units sold.
Indeed, Full-Year sales for 2021 have been 2,209, reporting a 41.6% increase compared to 2020.
Brand-wise, this year the leader Peugeot (+23.8%) lost 2% market share, followed by Kia (+64.8%), which gained 3.4% share. BYD (+22.8%) was in the third position and lost 1.6% market share.
The most sold model in the country is the Renault Sandero with 152 sales, holding 14.7% market share.
