New car sales will exceed 5,000 units in the month of October, boosted by sales at the ‘October Motor Fest ‘organized by the Association of Car Dealers of Panama (Adap).

Bogdan Batinovich, president of the automotive union, said that generally, the fairs organized by Adap have an impact of more than 40% on the monthly sales of new cars.

Monthly, sales this year exceeded 3 000  units, except for January and July when they were 2,000 and 600, respectively.

Over 13,000  people attended, attended the Fest when Adap's projection was close to 12,000.

The demand for new cars remains on the rise, but distributors do not have the inventory to satisfy demand as worldwide car assembly plants continue to face problems in speeding up production due to the shortage of microchips and semiconductors.

Figures from the Comptroller General's Office up to the month of August show that 26,370 units were sold in the country, leaving a positive balance of 6.6% against the accumulated figure for the same period last year.

Batinovich indicates that Adap's projection is that by the end of the year sales of new cars will oscillate between 41,000 and 42,000 units, and explains that the international situation that car manufacturers are going through, as well as the protests registered last July, will affect total sales in 2022.

In 2019, more than 47,000 units were sold in the country, while in 2020, when local distributors were closed by the pandemic, 24,091 units were sold.

For next year, ADAP looks forward to holding the four fairs that it held annually until the pandemic was declared.