March Car Price Updates: Industry Trends and Strategies Revealed

2024-03-07 05:41:00
The last month of the first quarter began with more moderate price lists. Low demand generates greater supply and competition. (Illustrative Image Infobae)

Although the data for some brands is still to be known, a good part of the car manufacturers have published their price lists since last Friday with values ​​updated to March. The sales decline that has been experienced in the first two months of 2024 seems to be having an effect, because the increases are significantly lower and novel strategies have even appeared.

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The context is important. In January sales fell 33% and in February 18.6%. Thus, unless a floor of 27,000 registrations is reached in March, the first quarter will not reach the 85,000 cars that the industry would need to save the first semester and that the annual projection does not fall below 350,000 units.

Although the industry sees a first semester of 300,000 cars/year and expects a second semester with growth that will allow that figure to rise to 400,000, they know that the start was difficult and that March is the key month. For this reason, the prices of zero kilometer cars did not rise as much as in the previous two months, and some have not increased at all.

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“The year for us starts in March. It is true that January is historically a month of good registrations because it brings with it December of customers who want a newer car, but it is also a month with many people on vacation and with other expenses on their minds,” said ADEFA authorities. recently.

“But in March the recharged credit cards from the summer arrive, classes begin, and there is also the adjustment of prepaid and private school fees that were not paid in January or February. It is a month of many expenses, we have to be prepared to take it as a truer reference of how the market is,” they added.

The March market shows prices more in line with the possibilities of customers. Pickups are the ones that changed their values ​​the least, with Toyota and Nissan that did not increase the Hilux and Alaskan (Photo: Freepik/prostooleh)

Going to prices, Toyota continues to be the brand that offers the most affordable car on the market. One caveat must be made, the cheapest cars are practically not available due to different circumstances. The model with the lowest price in the price list suggested by the terminal that produces in Zárate, continues to be the Toyota Etios, a model that was discontinued on August 31, and of which there are very few units left in dealerships. But since as long as there is a car there must be a price, the most affordable Etios in the 4-seater version has a price of 14.5 million pesos, while the most equipped reaches up to 18.2 million. The increase in Etios was only 3.4% from February to March.

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The other model of the Japanese brand is the Yaris, the natural replacement for the Etios as the entry to the range of sedans, it has a basic version with a manual transmission at $16,855,000 and the most equipped one with a CVT transmission at $21,975,000. In between there are versions within 20 million. In the low ranges, the increase was 3.5% while in the highest ranges it reached 8.9%. But here there is also an availability problem that the brand itself has recently recognized, pointing out that they are still being fulfilled with the cars that were owed from last year and those who subscribed to savings plans.

Toyota is not the only one that did not increase the prices of some models. Nissan did the same with the Frontier pick-ups, although it did increase most versions of Versa, Sentra and Kicks by 12%, where there are no longer any models with a price of less than 20 million pesos. Renault, for its part, increased the Sandero and Stepway by 18%, jumping the same barrier, and on the other hand only raised the price of utility vehicles that do not pay the internal tax such as the Kangoo van and the Alaskan pick-up by 5%. Ford increased that same percentage for its line of Ranger trucks manufactured in General Pacheco. We still have to wait for the Volkswagen lists, where the Amarok will probably maintain a price and the access version of the Polo Track may maintain a price below 20 million. It will also be necessary to confirm whether the bonus program published in the February price list is maintained this month.

On the other hand, Chevrolet increased prices more strongly with 30% for the imported Onix Plus, so there are no longer any models below 20 million pesos, it raised the Tracker SUVs by between 24 and 30%, and between 17% and 25% the S10 pick-up, which also come from Brazil. Although there are still no official lists, it is estimated that Peugeot and Fiat would increase the national lines of Fiat Cronos and Peugeot 208 by between 7 and 8%. If this happens, except for the access version to the Cronos range, the rest of The models would already be above 20 million pesos as well.

The complete range of Toyota Corolla Cross exceeded the top of scale 1 of the internal tax, but does not pay 20% because the factory price did not change compared to February

However, Toyota applied a different solution than usual in terms of pricing. After a month with the entire range capped just below 18.2 million pesos to avoid moving to scale 1 of the internal tax, the decision adopted for this month is to apply an increase for the Toyota Corolla Cross SUV, which in most versions are around 15%, and that leaves the most accessible version at 29.9 million pesos and the highest at 33 million. Something similar happens with the most equipped version of the sedan, the Corolla HEV 1.8 SEG eCVT, which is at $29,445,000 and the SW4 GR-Sport, which was at 66 million pesos, and therefore moves to scale 2 of the internal tax.

At these prices, the theory indicates that the full range of Corolla Cross and the Corolla HEV SEG should pay 20% of scale 1 of the luxury tax, and 35% of scale 2 respectively. However, what is new is that Toyota decided not to increase its billing price, at which cars leave the factory and which is the one used to establish what scale a car enters or does not qualify for. That price, to which 21% VAT and the dealer commission must be added to arrive at the list price value that consumers know, has a different composition this month in those models.

The list price is higher than the top of each scale because Toyota increased the official profit margin of the dealers by authorizing a price higher than that top, with the intention of containing a practice that many were already applying and that was a cause for concern. customer complaint. Both that version of the Corolla and all the Corolla Cross belong to the group of models that still have little availability on the network, since imports are open but the flow of dollars is not infinite, because the delay that comes from 2023 is still being recovered. in the delivery of units.

The method is an innovation that breaks with those lists of “capped” models with a complete range at the same price as seen during 2022 and 2023. However, it is not something that can be done always or even several months in a row. It was done in March and not in February because of the internal tax that continues to generate distortions in the market. As is known, this tax is valid quarterly, so it had to be updated at the end of April 2024.

However, part of the agreement that was reached between the automotive industry and the Government when the expiration of the current quarter was brought forward one month at the end of January, was that if inflation caused prices to rise very quickly between February and March, the adjustment might be brought forward once more one month, so in the sector it is presumed that in the last days of March, there will be a new tax base for scales 1 and 2. Thus, maintaining the factory price and increasing the profit margin of the dealer, it would only be for this month, and in April the values ​​would be updated normally once more.

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