Car sales in June were up in comparison to the same month last year, breaking a trend of 17 negative consecutive results. According to the ACARA car dealership chamber 56,315 vehicles were registered in June — a 5.6 percent increase in comparison to June 2014 and a 17 percent increase in comparison to the results in May of this year.

Production, exports and registration of cars have been hit by reduced demand locally and in Brazil as well as delays of imports of inputs for production. Sales have also been hampered by taxes on luxury models and the government has responded by providing credit with preferential terms for the purchase of cars.

With the June results confirmed, ACARA indicated that in the first semester of 2015 a total of 315,514 new cars were registered, a total that is 17 percent less than the in the same period of 2014. At this time last year 382,700 cars had been been registered with authorities. As such the industry as a whole remains on track to meeting annual estimates of 600,000 units sold, a number that is far from previous records but which analysts say is to be expected from a country with a population of 40 million. In 2013 records were broken as 957,000 cars were sold.

Although the automobile sector is not sure yet that positive results in June is a sure sign of a recovery, there was consensus that breaking the negative trend was a relief. The last time that there was growth in car registration figures was in December 2013 and the year-on-year comparisons had fallen as much as 30 percent in some months.

Although registration fell 16 percent in May, the sector had expressed some optimism following relatively small declines in of 4.1 percent in March and 2.4 percent in April on an inter-annual basis.

Date: July 2, 2015

Source: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/192977/car-sales-rise-56-and-break-negative-trend