The Venezuelan vehicle fleet has an average age of 22 and a half years and 80% of the vehicles are over 15 years old, according to Omar Bautista, president of Favenpa. He explained in the Night D program that the recent supply of new cars barely represents 5% of the total and that the national auto parts industry operates with 70% of its idle capacity.
The vehicle fleet in Venezuela has an average age of 22 and a half years and only 5% are vehicles less than five years old, according to Omar Bautista, president of Favenpa. The union leader warns that the national auto parts industry works at 30% of its capacity, and denounces unfair import competition and the atomization of the market with dozens of new brands and models.
Bautista made the diagnosis in an interview with the program Night Dwhich is hosted by Víctor Amaya and broadcast SuchWhich through their digital platforms. There he described a country that moves, above all, in very demanding old cars, while the showcases of new vehicles that still represent a minimal fraction of the fleet grow.
“Our vehicle fleet has an average age of 22 and a half years,” said. He explained that 80% of the vehicles in circulation are more than 15 years old, 15% are less than 10 years old and only 5% are units less than five years old. Although in recent years the supply of new cars has increased, especially from Asian brands, Bautista recalled that the total fleet is around 4.1 million vehicles and that sales in the last ten years total about 100,000 cars, that is, “no more than 5%.”
The leader also highlighted the difference between Caracas and the rest of the country. He pointed out that in the capital the presence of new models is more clearly perceived, but “when you go inland, to the regions, you see that there are very few new vehicles.” In his opinion, the majority of Venezuelans continue to depend on cars that have traveled more than 200,000 kilometers.
Old cars, old spare parts… and an industry at 30%
Maintaining that aging fleet requires a constant flow of spare parts. Bautista explained that, paradoxically, old vehicles have an advantage today: There are many units per model, which facilitates both national manufacturing and the importation of parts.
“In the aging park there is a large number per model,” he noted. This allows for national production of various spare parts for those cars and for the auto parts trade to function better. On the contrary, In the case of new vehicles, the market is highly fragmented: This year, according to their figures, there are about 40 brands and about 200 different models for about 35,000 units sold.
This dispersion translates into very small quantities per model and makes it “very difficult to manufacture spare parts in the country or obtain these spare parts,” because importers prefer to bring parts with more rotation and less risk of being left in inventory. Hence, many owners of new cars must resort to specific and more expensive imported parts.
Bautista pointed out that The national auto parts industry today has a used capacity of “around 30%”with 70% idle. He compared the current situation with that of a decade ago: today there are less than 50 auto parts manufacturers in the country, when before there were around 150. Although this year they could register a slight growth of close to 2% compared to last year, he clarified that they are still “70% below” the sales volume of ten years ago.
Cheap imports and low quality
One of the factors that puts pressure on the industry are imports that, according to Favenpa, enter under unequal conditions. Bautista assured that A good part of these imported spare parts reach the market without paying taxes and without billing, which constitutes “unfair competition” against national production, forced to pay taxes and operate in accordance with regulations.
Added to this is the problem of quality. He indicated that there are low-quality imported spare parts that are sold cheaper than national ones, but end up being more expensive for the consumer because they must be changed very frequently. “Some proven national spare parts are being replaced with ones that are not tested, and that has been more expensive for many consumers,” he stated. Mechanical shops, he said, have reported the same situation.
He also recognized that there are imported parts of good quality with which the Venezuelan industry competes “on par”, as long as they enter paying the same taxes and complying with the same obligations. “We have no problem with imports as long as they come in the same conditions as we are here and in the same quality,” he insisted.
How to reactivate the industry
Regarding the possibilities of recovering the automotive and auto parts industry, Bautista was clear: the starting point must be assembly. «The ideal would be to reactivate vehicle assembly in Venezuela againwith the pieces completely disassembled and that national parts can be incorporated,” he said.
He recalled that there is a joint resolution of the Ministries of Finance, Economy and Industries, published in May, which establishes percentages for the incorporation of national parts in the assembly of vehicles. These are the “rules for the operation of the national automotive industry.” For Favenpa, the key is for the State to enforce these regulations and for assemblers to adapt their operations to develop local suppliers.
This development, he said, is not immediate: designing and manufacturing a new part in the country can take between three months and up to two years, depending on its complexity. But if it is achieved, it would allow the creation of models with greater production volume, provide more security of spare parts and after-sales service to consumers and stop the atomization of the vehicle fleet, which today totals nearly 200 different models with few units each.
«It is incredible to have 200 models in this country with few units, it is very complicated to service them when requiring spare parts»he warned. Meanwhile, the majority of Venezuelans will continue to tighten budgets and extend the life of cars that have been in use for more than two decades, between the creativity to obtain spare parts and the uncertainty about whether the new models will have the necessary support to stay on the road.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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