Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Finally, Argentines no longer have to cry for football.

Exactly 36 years later, a new generation of Argentine players finally won the World Cup-coincidence or days-just two years before Argentina began an all-night carnival, the stadiums around the world were gray. are saddened by the death of Maradona.

Yes, as long as it is mentioned that this South American country which is farthest from China, the first reaction of countless people is not only football but also some Madai tea, tango, barbecue and so on.

In fact, in the first 50 years of the 20th century, Argentina could be said to be the most desirable country on earth. Even in the first 30 years, Argentina was truly a country that caught up with Britain and the United States, once ranked among the top three richest countries in the world, with endless football, non-greasy Madai tea, endless tango, endless granaries, and not enough beef. Per capita income far exceeds that of Britain, France and Germany, and is known as the Pampas Eagle of the South American Plains.

At that time, Europeans described a man as trench and would say, "he is as rich as an Argentine."

From then on, the rich Argentine society began to emerge two theories of development: deindustrialization and industrialization. Of course, for a long time, the former prevailed, and many pro-European and American local economists believe that as long as they maintain close relations with Europe and the United States and complement each other, such as selling primary agricultural and sideline products, and then from Europe in exchange for industrial products and capital to supply the domestic market.

This development model has indeed strengthened and accelerated Argentina's global integration, but it has also led to a rapid decline or even collapse of the country after several changes.

Even in Latin America, Argentina is still a country with strong comprehensive national strength, and now its industrial categories are more developed and complete, but it is obviously unevenly distributed compared with agriculture, mainly concentrated in Buenos Aires and Cordoba provinces. The industrial base of inland provinces is quite weak.

The most obvious example is that we have to mention the local automobile industry.

In 1920, Argentina, which was so rich, established the country's first car assembly plant. But it was not until 32 years later that the first car production plant appeared in Cordoba province. Since the domestic mass production of cars began in 1959, the automobile industry has become an important pillar industry in Argentina. There are 14 production plants, 8 car and light train manufacturers, 6 truck and passenger vehicle manufacturers, and 40% of the sales outlets are in Buenos Aires province.

Haven't you heard of it? Never mind, this Argentine joke is more famous about cars:

-what industry has the most people in Argentina?

-car washing industry. Because you have to pay twice to wash the car in Argentina, wash the outside first. If you want to clean the car, double the cost.

Through this joke, you can get a glimpse of Argentina's local attitude towards the auto industry and car buyers.

In a way, Argentina's car market is like the Chinese men's football team, it looks like no downline and is ridiculed by the universe-a disaster for a country with a per capita GDP of $8524 in 2020.

One of the most obvious examples is that many junk brands or cars that are regarded as low standards, low acceptance and poor quality in Europe, Asia and the United States are very popular in Argentina.

Of course, it belongs to different lives in the same car.

Some classic cars with high quality, design and safety in Europe and the United States are seriously lacking in Latin America, especially in Argentina. For example, some vehicles that are equally common in Argentina and Europe and the United States: Renault Sandero, Kia Rio, Hyundai Grand i10, Peugeot 208and so on, have appeared the phenomenon of "Latin American specialty".

The most prominent is that these Latin American classic cars are unbearably miserable in the famous NCAP crash test. The European Renault Sandero won three stars in the impact test, while the Latin American model of the same name only got one star. Its structure is obviously looser than that of the European version, its performance is much worse, and the quality of the steel material used is not good, which basically can not effectively prevent the deformation and collapse of the internal engine room.

The Latin American version of the modern Grand i10 made in India has not won a single star. The reason is that there is basically no safety equipment to speak of, what side and front airbags, child restraint system, electronic stability control are basically zero. The structure of the car is also extremely weak, and the cabin caved in directly in the frontal crash test, which is a fatal defect.

The test result of the European version of Hyundai Grand i10 of the same name in Euro NCAP is 4 stars. The gap between the two cars can not be said to be very small, but also can be said to be very different.

The Latin American version of Kia Rio and Peugeot 208are also more or less the same as the previous two models, both of which can be called the 0-star spokesmen of NCAP. The former only provided the airbag for the driver's parking space, and the European and American standard ABS brakes and electronic stability control system completely disappeared, while the latter lacked the same horizontal steel bar of the European version, so it was miserable enough in the horizontal collision test.

There is also the Chevrolet Aveo / Lafeng, Chevrolet Onix and Kia Picanto, their Latin American version of the test results in the NCAP Latin American laboratory, are no doubt duck eggs.

Moreover, according to the results of NCAP Latin America Lab, Argentina is one of the most backward car markets in the whole Latin American region. Although many of the same models do look the same in appearance, their cores are often nothing new, and many new cars in Argentina adopt the same kind of technology as they did 20 years ago, and their materials are not good enough. There is a lack of active and passive safety rigidity that is necessary in the Asian and European markets today.

Even more distressing for local car buyers is the inhumane price of cars in Argentina.

According to normal logic, poor quality, poor safety, the price of an ugly car must be as low as dust. In Argentina, on the contrary, these Latin American models are often very expensive compared with many European and American cars with different lives of the same model. And data show that the most expensive Latin American country to sell cars is Argentina, where the cheapest brand-new cars sold for about $12000 in 2019, compared with $5000 in Mexico, $8000 in Chile and $10000 in Brazil, which also belongs to the Mercosur phalanx.

In addition, GM, which ranks fifth in Argentina by market share, costs an average of $14000 for a new car in Mexico, $29000 in Ecuador and more than $32000 in Argentina.

In other words, the price of a new car in Argentina is more than twice that of Mexico!

The huge price gap still exists in used cars.

In 2019, someone compared Argentina's special "location advantage" with Chile, Spain, the United States and other countries on the price of second-hand cars on MercadoLibre,eBay,coche.net and other websites. The same second-hand Ferrari F430 costs $100000 for Spaniards and $360000 for Argentines. It is also Argentina VS Spain, second-hand BMW Z3 Spaniards for $6214 and Argentines for $35,000. Compared with the United States, a second-hand Ford Mustang GT costs $5495 for Americans and $30, 000 for Argentines.

The biggest harm has to come from a good neighbor next door. Chileans next door need 31 years of minimum wage to buy a used Porsche 911, while Argentines need 110 years!

What is even more puzzling is that due to the high local inflation in the past two years, the prices of used cars sold on the market are often upside down, far exceeding the price of new cars. Of course, the primary reason for this new atmosphere is inseparable from many speculative direct sellers who will hoard in advance and mark the price very high, and soon the market price will surge like a rising tide.

Of course, apart from blaming global car companies, the real key to the success of the Argentine car industry is the local government.

Local economist Diego Giacominni once revealed: "about 55% of the final price of Argentine cars is actually given to the government. Once an Argentine would-be car owner enters a franchise store, he will have to pay much more tax than the value of the car itself."

Although Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, who took office at the end of 2019, has been saying that he will continue to promote the revival of the national industry, especially the automobile industry. He forced imported and joint venture car brands to lower their prices, and even imposed tariffs of 35% to curb the entry of imported cars. At the same time, they also reached out to levy higher taxes on enterprises to show their position of protecting national industry.

But. There are no own car brands in Argentina.

So at first glance, the Fernandez government seems to be protecting the interests of car buyers, making them affordable and affordable. But the premise of protection is to desperately suck the blood of international enterprises and ask for more taxes. Enterprises in order to protect themselves, either increase the price, or reduce the quality, or …... Play both hands.

The paradox arises from this.

As a result of the paradox, Argentina sold nearly 377000 cars in 2021. In 2020, production was even lower, reaching 270000 vehicles without even reaching 300000-- local annual sales were 640000 vehicles in 2015, halving the figure in six years.

Now it is said that they should learn to "fish in a sustainable way", but the Argentine government obviously only knows the second half of the sentence. It also makes the former South American hegemons unable to catch up with Brazil and Mexico barefoot in the auto industry.

Alberto pr í ncipe, president of the Argentine Automobile Chamber of Commerce (CCA), directly pointed out: "Argentina is the most expensive car market in Latin America." from a historical point of view, the automobile industry is regarded as a piece of fat by the national tax authorities, and the government believes that cars are a luxury, not daily needs. "affected by taxes, a car is sometimes more expensive than a three-story apartment in a wealthy part of the capital!"

In the first 11 months of 2021, the price of new cars rose by 65%, nearly 20 percentage points higher than the inflation rate of 45.4% over the same period, according to a study by the Argentine Association of Automobile Dealers.

The statistics include the average price of all new light vehicles (cars and pick-up trucks)-incredibly, the average price of a light vehicle was about 2.3 million pesos at the beginning of the year and 3.778 million pesos after November.

Therefore, more and more Argentines will not become leeks again and again.

A year ago, the Argentine Association of Automobile Dealers released an intriguing survey: the number of motor vehicles in Argentina is about 15.6 million and the number of cars with 1,000 people is more than 310, which is indeed higher than that of Brazil and Mexico. but the average age of vehicles is 14.8 years. Among them, Riverside province bordering Uruguay and Mendoza province bordering Chile have an average age of 17 years.

In the same period, it was 10 years in the United States and 4.9 years in China. Others complain that this average is almost the end of life in China.

The capital, Buenos Aires, is relatively better. After all, it is Argentina's most economically developed, densely populated and most powerful region for consumers-which often accounts for about half of the country's new car sales, reaching 46.6% last year. You can see how unbalanced the car industry is in Argentina.

But standing on the streets of Buenos Aires, the vast majority of vehicles are basically old models from 2007 to 2013, and most of them are small cars.

In particular, Ford, Renault, Volkswagen, Fiat, Chevrolet and Peugeot, these six brands account for more than 80% of the market. The most popular model is the Volkswagen Golf, which ended lacklustre after a short launch in China, with more than 450000 cars, accounting for nearly 3%, which is quite scary.

It is understood that last year, the most popular cars in the area were the Fiat CRONOS and JEEP RENEGADE.

Those who do not want to be leeks are also the emerging local car-building forces.

Although the Argentine government has repeatedly said that it is vigorously developing electric cars and will grant tariff relief to related imports, the actual effect cannot be said to be better than nothing, and it can also be said to be driving backwards on the accelerator.

Because just last month, Sero Electric, Argentina's first electric car manufacturer, announced that it would abandon its homeland and move to Brazil.

It is reported that the company launched its first electric car in 2019 and has so far built four electric cars, but has never received any help from the government.

At present, Siro generally uses 700 parts to assemble electric vehicles, of which only about 10 parts need to be imported, and the rest are made in Argentina. Since the beginning of this year, the Argentine unicorn has provided hundreds of electric vehicles to many well-known Argentine companies, such as YPF, Aluar, Loma Negra and Techint, including Siro as one of its key suppliers.

But it is those rare parts that take the company's own life.

Founder Paolo Naya said: "Argentina's introduction of the new import declaration system (SIRA) has become the last straw to kill the camel, making it impossible for us to pay for imports. Coupled with the sharp contraction of the local market in recent years, the car industry is shrinking and the cost of making electric cars is becoming higher and higher."

"it is estimated that the annual sales of new cars in Argentina this year will be about 350000. Moreover, the growth of electric cars in Argentina is very slow!"

And it is true. Although sales of hybrid and electric vehicles in Argentina soared by 148% year-on-year in 2021, the actual base was so small that 5871 vehicles were sold in one year.

Paolo Naya is looking forward to going to Brazil.

He said the company would open its factory to Brazil with the help of a distributor in the southern Brazilian state of Parana. "Brazil is an attractive market that provides us with very competitive loans and a good workshop, can hire people on demand, and will keep its promises."

In the face of repeated requests from major domestic customers, Siro said that it will not withdraw completely from the Argentine market at present and will retain the minimum production capacity.

This ending, see the hearts of people pull cool drop pain ah.

Maybe Argentina thinks it's too early, and it still has 20 years to fish. Compared with Europe, America and Asia, it has announced a ban on the sale of fuel cars from January 1, 2041, and a nationwide ban on the production of vehicles powered only by internal combustion engines.

Finally, let's talk about the car owners in Argentina.

In fact, a large part of the reason why car companies exploit safety loopholes in Argentina is that Argentines are very Argentine in their choice of cars. They are extremely interested in appearance and entertainment configuration, and many people are obsessed with vehicles with subwoofer audio. In contrast, many people do not care the active and passive safety configurations of vehicles, such as structural strength, airbags, ABS and other safety systems.

As a result of this interlocking relationship, Argentina has one of the top three car accidents in the world.

Twenty years ago, unofficial statistics in Argentina showed that the death toll from traffic accidents across the country reached 9900. The death rate of traffic accidents in 2020 and 2021 was the lowest in recent years, mainly due to the restriction of circulation caused by COVID-19. In 2022, there was indeed a sharp decline compared with 2002, but a significant increase over the previous two years, with 1339 people killed in road accidents in the first quarter.

Of course, 40% of the dead were motorcyclists under the age of 35, but on the other side of the accident, most of them were Argentine drivers with poor driving habits and poor driving skills, who often turned a blind eye to red lights and speeding warnings.

Many Argentine Chinese have become accustomed to the local people's driving skills comparable to those of the Chinese men's football team: "the mortality rate is only the third? at the crossroads next to my house, there was a car accident in two or three weeks!"

Yes, as you can guess, the driver's license in Argentina-very easy to get!

After many Chinese students go to Argentina, they suddenly find that as long as you are proficient in Spanish, the Argentine driver's license is almost easy, and the Argentine driver's license can also be changed for a Chinese driver's license (holding an Argentine driver's license, you only need to take an additional subject to return home and pass the get Chinese driver's license).

Take the examination process in the Buenos Aires area as an example: first, there is a theory exam, in which 30 questions randomly selected from the question bank are deemed to have passed 70% correctly.

Many Chinese who have obtained Argentine driver's licenses say that the table is simply too simple! Scan the question bank once or twice and pass the simulation test several times, and then you can pass the theory exam.

If you pass the theoretical test, you can enter the road test, and there are only four items: side parking, backward turning, half-slope start, S-shaped route.

It looks as if. Not easy.

The key is that you must provide your own vehicles, either manually or automatically, and what is more touching for Chinese candidates is that there is no infrared remote sensing. If you don't succeed the first time, say hello to the examiner and give you a second chance!

So, this Argentine car is so similar to the Chinese men's football team.

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: autocarweekly (ID:autocarweekly), article: Dedee

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