Monday May 1, 2023 | 6:06 p.m.
The automotive sector begins May with news that shows the impact of inflation: from this month there are no more 0km below $4,000,000.
Until Friday there was only one model that was worth less than that price. It was the Toyota Etios. There were two versions that had not broken that limit. The most economical was the Etios Aibo, a vehicle adapted for work that could enter the segment of utilities. Its list price in April was $3,776,000.
The other was the classic five-door from the Japanese brand that, in its entry-level version of the Etios X, cost $3,994,000.
The rest of the models on the market were already above $4,000,000. In ascending order, the ranking of the 10 cheapest models was completed as follows: Citroën C3 ($4,046,200), Etios sedan ($4,167,000), Chevrolet Joy hatchback ($4,409,900), Fiat Mobi ($4,477,900 ), Renault Logan ($4,639,100), Nissan Versa ($4,768,200), Fiat Cronos ($5,011,700) and Toyota Yaris ($5,095,000).
Toyota is usually the brand that first sends the new price list at the start of each time. Last Saturday, the dealership network had the current values for May. According to that update, the Etios hatchback went on to cost $4,294,000, while the Aibo version is now $4,059,000.
In the next few days, the rest of the automakers will update their prices and the aforementioned ranking of the cheapest 100km will have changes, but the most accessible will already start at over $4,000,000.
If the price of the “blue” is taken, the most accessible model on the market costs, as of this month, US$8,654. On the other hand, if it is measured at the official exchange rate – which is the value for which automakers import inputs or finished vehicles – the price jumps to US$17,724.
A fact to take into account is that, while in May the most affordable car already costs more than $4,000,000, from the official list price of $7,000,000, vehicles begin to pay the luxury tax.
This shows that there is a flattening in the scale of values that means that models of the medium segment are reached by the Internal Tax.
It is true that many of the models on the market are sold at premiums outside of the official lists, but that does not minimize the fact that, at official values, there is this marked price distortion. The current tax base will apply until the end of the month.
