New car sales increased in T&T in 2012 but not as fast as those of used car sales, according to Phillip Knaggs, the president of the Automotive Dealers Association (ADATT).
Speaking to the Business Guardian last Friday, Knaggs said: "While new car sales have increased slightly, the foreign-used numbers have more than doubled. This would be a direct result of the Government's move to allow the importation of six-year old foreign used vehicles from the latter part of 2011. The previous limit on the age of foreign-used vehicles was four years."
According to the information Knaggs provided, there were 14,888 new vehicles sold in 2012 compared with approximately 12,250 used vehicles sold, which is more than double the amount sold in 2011 (6,089).
In 2011, Knaggs said 13,163 new cars were sold.
For 2013, all the information suggests used car sales will grow even further, Knaggs said, which he attributed to liquidity in the banking system.
"Initial indicators are that, for 2013, the foreign used imports and subsequent sales will increase by an additional 33 per cent while the imports of new vehicles should remain constant. Banks still seem to be in a position to lend due to high liquidity, and have become more aggressive in their approach to financing. All economic indicators seem to be remaining fairly unchanged from 2012," he said.
Strong January
The new car sales for January 2013 were very strong, Andre Baptiste, managing director of Toyota T&T operations, told the Business Guardian at the launch of Toyota's RAV 4 SUV last Thursday.
"In the year 2012 Toyota was the number two brand after Nissan in T&T. We have seen a growth in the new vehicle market last year, year-on-year from the previous year. This year, with one month gone, we have also seen a gigantic jump of new 1,300 vehicles which were sold in January," he said.
He broke down the sales figures for the top brands.
"Since last month's jump in new car sales we have been number one. We sold 330 vehicles, Nissan sold 257 and Hyundai 216 vehicles while Kia sold more than 100. What this has shown us is that people had sales for December and maybe could not process the sales in December and brought the sales into January. We continue to see demand for new vehicles."
Baptiste believes that there is a shift in the buying patterns of customers because they are seeing the benefits of purchasing new cars.
"We feel customers now realise the value of new vehicles as against used vehicles. Based on that idea, customers feel it is better to invest in a new vehicle with the added incentive of a two-year warranty, good service, good parts and the most important aspect of Toyota is re-sale value.
"Today ,a customer came to our showroom and said he purchased a Hilux five-and-a-half years ago for $205,000 and today–five years later–he sold the same vehicle for $158,000 because it was serviced here. He is coming back to buy another Hilux," he said.
Demographics
According to Baptiste, younger people tend to be the ones buying new cars.
"The demographics have suggested that it is people between the age 25 to age 45 group who are buying new cars. These are young people and a lot of parents are also buying cars for their children. In many families, it would appear that nearly everyone owns a car," he said.
Giving an example of how quickly people are buying new vehicles, he said Toyota brought in 40 to 50 RAV 4 SUVs and almost 75 per cent have already been sold.
"Even though on the surface–based on the gross domestic product (GDP)–the economy may not be booming, if you look at the banks, they have a lot of cash and liquidity and this means money is available to customers. The banks are now reducing their interest rates and, once this happens, customers will come forward and meet the requirement. The way the market is now they are not earning any money in terms of deposits, it is very low and it is good to make an investment."
He expects Toyota to continue doing well and spoke about expansion.
"Our vision is service. Later this year, we are opening a new branch in San Fernando. We will be moving from the old location. We have 20 customer service bays at this location and, when the new south branch opens, another 20 bays will be there. It will be a massive facility. It will be bigger than this facility. We intend to become number one in T&T again," he said.
Central Bank Summary Economic Indicators
�2 Central Bank data indicate that 12,965 new vehicles were sold in T&T in 2011, comprising 8,251 passenger cars and 4,714 commercial vehicles.
�2 New motor vehicle sales for January to September 2012 were 10,877 and this was a percentage change of 13.3 per cent over the previous year.
�2 Passenger cars sales for January to September 2012 were 6,778 while this was a percentage change of 11.6 per ent over the previous year.
�2 Commercial vehicles sales for January to September 2012 were 4,099 while this was a 16.4 percentage change over the previous year.
