14-year car sales joy ride ending

OVER 13% fewer new cars appeared on Panama’s highways in the first eight months of the year as sales plunged, the first time in 14 years that thee has been a negative trend.

The Panama Association of Automobile Distributors (ADAP) had predicted that by the end of 2017, 10% fewer vehicles would be sold than in 2016. Figures from

Figures from the Comptroller General  suggest  the slowdown will be even greater.

To the end of August,  38,221 vehicles were sold, reflecting a contraction of 13.1% compared to the same period in 2016 The inter-annual deceleration in the January-July period had been 12.8%

Analysts have say that the fall in sales is due to the fact that consumption levels have decreased in different sectors,due to the country’s economic slowdown.

The performance of the January-August period in 2016 compared to 2015 had marked a improvement of 7.5%, a figure similar to the previous comparison with 2014.

The biggest contraction was in the sale of sedans, which make up almost a third of the transactions, showed a fall of 19.9%, or 3,161 fewer vehicles.

Suburban cars, which account for another third of sales, are the only ones have maintained a positive pace so far this year. Its sales increased from 12 ,778 to 12 944