After March sales of 18,015 vehicles, Colombia’s Q1 2010 volume was up 10.1% to 49,676 units, making a full year tally of 205,000 quite feasible.
In this context, “local assemblers grew their production 25.7% in the January-February period, which helped with the 4.2% increase in manufacturing activity,” Luis Carlos Villegas, president of Andi, the Colombian industrial group, said.
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Though the local assemblers’ Q1 sales were flat (20,819 in 2010 versus 20,826 a year ago), Mazda grew volume 35% and Renault 17%, though Chevrolet fell 6%, so that production growth was primarily dedicated to exports, particularly Ecuador.
Meanwhile, importers’ volume rose 15.6% year on year in the first three months of 2010.
Among those, the tussle for third place saw Kia (8.7% market share) approaching parent and rival Hyundai (10.7%) thanks to a sales boost of 98% YTD, due to new models and aggressive advertising.
The top 10 brands by sales growth were led by Fiat, followed by Jaguar, Volvo, Chrysler, Kia, Audi, Ssangyong, Dodge, Nissan and Seat.
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By GlobalDataFiat’s strong performance was due to a change of importer – now Venezuelan group Importadora Todeschini which also imports and distributes Alfa Romeo. It opened a showroom in Bogotá last month and launched the MiTo and 159 here.
In the premium segment, Audi overtook Mercedes-Benz, thank to a boost in sales of A3 and A4 models. BMW tops this segment with a 44% market share followed by Audi (33%)and Mercedes (22%). Volvo, Porsche, Land Rover and Jaguar have a single digit share each.
