Argentina car sales drop 47%

New car sales in Argentina is down 47% so far this year (January-August) to 327,206 units.

The downfall is mainly due to the economic situation in the country. Besides last year’s GDP falling 19.5% year-over-year to some US$519 billion, inflation is seen at more than 50% and the benchmark interest rate is topping 85%.

The best-selling brand during the eight-month period was Volkswagen (down 47.3% to 49,466 units), followed by Toyota (-30.8% to 47,228), Renault (-47.4% to 46,531), Ford (-50% to 38,305), and Chevrolet which dropped 54.2% to 36,748 units, according to automotive research and data group Focus2Move.

As for the best-selling models, the Toyota Hilux pickup (pictured) was on top but selling 28.2% less than the same period last year (17,922 units). It was followed by Chevrolet Onix (-46.4% to 12,670), Ford Ka (-48.8% to 12,331), Toyota Etios (-52.6% to 12,041), and Volkswagen Gol which saw 53.3% less sales (9,269 units), all of which are subcompact hatchbacks.