Chile and Brazil are the countries in LatAm with the most vehicle purchases per capita in 2022

The automotive sector has constantly changed since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

A disrupted supply chain, a semiconductor crisis, and high inflation have driven the price of new and used vehicles.

Even so, seven of nine countries analyzed reported an increase in new vehicle registrations between 2021 and 2022, with significant variations such as Brazil (+8.8%) and Mexico (+7.0%), which reported the registration of 2,305,238 and 1,086,058 new vehicles the previous year, respectively.

Despite the results, which are determinant for the economies, the debate remains between the number of vehicles in the countries and the congestion in their capital cities or the most populated ones.

The Inrix 2022 Global Traffic Index ranked Bogota, Colombia, as the fifth city with the worst traffic globally and the first in Latin America, where a person can “lose” up to 122 hours a year in traffic.

But in addition, Medellin and Cali, also Colombian cities, are in the ‘Top 5′ of the most congested in the LatAm ranking, in which also appear Quito (3) and Belo Horizonte (5).

This is even though Colombia has one of the lowest rates among the number of new vehicles registered per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022 (Motorization Index).

In 2022, Chile and Brazil were the countries that led the Motorization Index (MDI) in Latin America, with a result of 22.5 and 10.6, respectively.

Both countries have almost completely dominated this index in the region in the last three years, except in 2021, when Uruguay was in second place, reaching 14.8 and surpassing Brazil, according to figures from each country’s vehicle associations.

“The increasing deterioration in urban mobility is largely due to the dizzying growth of the urban population and the inability of cities to meet the public services demanded by this growth,” said Oliverio Garcia, president of the National Association for Sustainable Mobility (Andemos).

WHAT IS THE MOTORIZATION INDEX IN OTHER LATAM COUNTRIES?

At the bottom of this ranking, in which there are nine countries, are Paraguay and Colombia, where 33,844 and 262,595 new vehicles were registered in 2022, the reason why the WDI is 4.5 and 5.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively.

Peru and Ecuador are in the middle of the table, with an MDI of 4.8 and 7.8 new vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants in 2022. In these countries, 159,814 and 139,517 new vehicles were registered in 2022, respectively.

“In terms of mobility, both in Colombia and in Latin America, we have reached the paradox of restricting mobility to have mobility. That is a complex and delicate territory since any restriction is negative and the automotive sector generates a lot of transversal activity,” Andemos said regarding the WDI of the countries and their level of vehicle congestion.

Mexico, one of the countries with the highest vehicle sales last year, also bases a large part of its exports on the automotive industry.

There, 1′086,058 new vehicles were sold, reaching an MDI of 8.3.

Other cases of average results are in Argentina and Paraguay, with motorization indexes reaching 8.0 and 7.1 by 2022, respectively.

“It is a great opportunity to enhance the development of the regions to decongest the main cities, plan the growth of the cities and articulate the different modes of transportation at the service of the citizens so that they operate in an articulated manner,” García said.

With information form Bloomberg