Argentina's new vehicle market entered 2024 facing headwinds from multiple directions simultaneously. The December 2023 devaluation — which corrected the official exchange rate by approximately 118% overnight — instantly repriced vehicles that are heavily dependent on imported components or assembled abroad. By January 2024, showroom prices had risen 60–80% compared to November 2023, placing new cars out of reach for many potential buyers and triggering one of the sharpest contractions in automotive sales on record.
Registration figures: a year of decline
According to ACARA (the Argentine Automobile Dealers Association), Argentina registered 341,524 new vehicles in the first eight months of 2024, representing a 20.3% decline compared to the same period in 2023. The sharpest contraction occurred in Q1 2024, when volumes fell approximately 35% year-over-year, as consumers absorbed the shock of dramatically higher prices and dealers worked through pre-devaluation inventory. The decline moderated as the year progressed, with Q2 and Q3 showing smaller year-on-year drops as prices stabilized and some buyers re-entered the market. Our dashboard on vehicle registration tracks monthly registration volumes, brand shares and segment breakdowns in detail.
Segment performance: pickups hold up, EVs grow
Not all vehicle segments experienced the downturn equally. The pickup truck segment — which in Argentina serves both commercial and personal-use markets — proved considerably more resilient, declining only about 8% compared to the broader market's 25% drop in passenger cars. This relative strength reflected sustained demand from agricultural and construction sectors. At the other end of the spectrum, electric vehicles registered 2,847 units in H1 2024, roughly double the figure from the same period in 2023. Despite this growth, EVs still represented less than 1.5% of the total new vehicle market, highlighting how far adoption lags behind leading markets globally.
Brand rankings and the used car shift
Toyota retained its position as market leader through the period, holding approximately 19.8% of total registrations, supported by strong demand for its Hilux pickup. Volkswagen, Chevrolet and Renault rounded out the top five. One notable market dynamic was the shift in consumer behavior toward the used vehicle segment: used car transactions fell only about 12% compared to 2023, significantly less than the new car decline. Many buyers who had intended to purchase new vehicles redirected their budgets toward late-model used cars as the price differential widened sharply.
Outlook and connection to economic activity
Vehicle registration is often used as a leading indicator of consumer confidence and credit availability, making it a useful window into broader economic conditions. The contraction observed in 2024 is consistent with the general recession that characterized the first half of the year, as real wages fell and credit tightened. Our dashboard on economic activity provides the macroeconomic context within which the vehicle market's performance can be interpreted. A gradual recovery in registrations was expected as the economy stabilized and real incomes began to recover in late 2024 and into 2025.
