Luxury cars: “cushion dollar” imports from Porsche and other brands

If automakers in the country have suffered restrictions and delays in importing Brazilian models and other models for at least two years, importers who do not have a local factory have a much weaker and more unstable situation. Limits in access to official dollars for important units put many brands between a rock and a hard place in 2022, and the percentage of foreign cars open to 34% of the total (including imported local terminal units), with a contraction of brands in the luxury segment and those of Asian origin.

However, the obstacles began to open last year, when the Ministry of Economy restored the previous scheme, which regulated imports (SIMI) through the Import of the Republic of Argentina (SIRA). Within the new regime, a clause was included for which the importers fought: the possibility that the luxury sector units could enter the country using their own dollars and not depending on the official currencies that the Bank gradually paid.

The new scheme establishes that for any unit with more than US$ 25,000 FOB (free on board), the importer himself (or his client) can use his dollars to pay the amount, without subsidies. financial authority.

In a dialogue with LA NACION, Hugo Belcastro, president of Camera Importers (CIDOA) and representative in the country of BAIC, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Isuzu brands, revealed that now the delay of SIRA approval if the payment is with their dollars, “between one and two weeks”. On the other hand, it should be considered that the SIRA system allows the import of payments with a delay of up to 180 days.

The implementation of SIRA, confirmed in Belfast, was favorable to the luxury and hyperbolic car market. “Before, the work was very inadequate for these characteristics. They spent 12 months without receiving an import permit. Now they can do business using their dollars, without Central giving them anything and on top of that they are not competing with them for national production,” he explained.

Once SIRA is authorized with its dollars, the conditions of access to the imported unit depend on each supplier abroad, but to get the module, the arrival of the car usually takes about two months on board, Belcastro added.

Under these conditions, importers anticipate “the end of 2023 in pre-pandemic numbers” the trader calculates. “The market is growing. Supply and demand too. January – February 2023 is 7% higher than January – February 2022”, he summarized.

A visible ideal (always on its own scale) is what happened when the German luxury brand rushed. In the last two months of the first two years, only two units have been revealed, against the six that were marked this 2023, according to the statistics of the Association of Dealers (Acara).

The Chinese BAIC (administered in Belfast) went from 18 open units in the first two months of 2022 to 38 this year.

In this context, brands are encouraged to launch the project. Alfa Romeo, which unveiled 10 units in the first two months of the year, plans to launch the Tonale, the recently introduced plug-in hybrid SUV, in Europe at the end of this year. However, the details are not available at the moment, because the price must be determined before the method of importation is established (whether it be with our own dollars or import through official currencies). “There [en Europa] It is 40,000 coins. Here we are talking about the price, we have to see in the fourth quarter how the official dollar “Belcastro concluded.

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