21/09/2013 00:00
TW
0
PALMA THE average price of a car in the Balearic Islands dropped to 18'810 euros last month, 8.7 percent less than the figure for August in 2008 and nearly 3'000 euros cheaper than the Spanish national average for August this year, said the National Car Dealership Association, Faconauto, yesterday.

The Association claimed that car prices are still being influenced by a Central Government aid package - Plan 2000E - which was introduced last May aimed at kick-starting the car sales industry and at moving stock which had accumulated in showrooms.

The same tendency for lowering prices in the sale of a vehicle to the public can be seen over the rest of the country. At the end of last month, the average price of a car in Spain stood at 21'654 - 5.3 percent cheaper than it had been a year previously. Nevertheless, the average price which the customers finally end up paying fell by more than 8.5 percent putting the national average price of a new vehicle at 19'166 euros.

Separately, special offers made by the dealership in Spain rose by 29 percent last month in comparison with August in 2008 to reach an average of 2'488 euros per vehicle. Faconauto said yesterday, however, that there could be a downturn in sales between now and the end of the year if incentives to purchase are not kept up. Dealerships it claimed, are being forced to maintain the bait of “special offers” to keep the momentum of the government aid package going. It is expected that as the Spanish economy and the Consumer Price Index recovers (potentially from the month of November onwards), car prices will also progressively start to rise and recover the levels they enjoyed last year. Faconauto President, Antonio Romero-Haupold, said yesterday “never has there been a time when it has been so cheap to buy a car in this country.” He said though that the situation isn't going to last indefinitely, and it is possible that prices will start to climb. Faconauto currently has 3'188 car dealerships within its membership and 311 which sell industrial vehicles. Linked to these are 3'588 companies which act as secondary network distribution, and of this total 7'087 belong to Spain's small-to-medium sized business associations known as “pymes”. The vehicle companies directly employ 160'000 people and handle 80'000 million euros of business a year.