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Car sales drop 25% in 1998
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Posted on Jan 13 1999
New motor vehicle sales declined 25 percent in 1998 compared to 1997 as many businesses in the CNMI closed shop due to the Asian economic problems.
Rodney Cabrera, president of the Commonwealth Auto Dealers Association, said he projects vehicle sales to remain slow this year since many businesses continue to suffer as a result of the regional crisis.
More than a year since the Asian crisis began, the island’s tourism economy has suffered a double-digit decline which forced many investors to leave the Northern Marianas especially Korean businessmen.
With the shrinking market, Cabrera said dealers would just have to find ways to survive the economic crisis. Since last year, car dealers have been beset with increasing repossession cases as the slowdown in tourism economy forced many customers to return the vehicles which they bought.
“We just have to be more creative in tapping the present market and become more aggressive in selling,” he added.
For the month of December 1998 alone, Joeten Motors captured the biggest market share with a total sale of 37 vehicles which was a 5.7 percent increase compared to December 1997.
This was followed by Microl Corp. with total vehicle sales of 35 or a 53 percent plunge compared to December 1997. Triple J Motors came close to the third slot with a total sale of 30 which is a 20 percent jump from December 1997.
Also last month, Toyota vehicles remained the most popular as Microl sold a total of 34, followed by Mitsubishi with a total of 24 from Triple J Motors. Nissan came second with 18 units sold and Ford with 10 units.
Of the five auto dealers in the commonwealth, Midway Motors got the smallest market share with only eight Mazda vehicles sold.
