Amid a severe transportation crisis and limited fuel availability, the Cuban government announced significant changes on Tuesday regarding the policy for the marketing of motor vehicles, their importation, and the transfer of ownership.
In the official program Mesa Redonda, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, the Minister of Transport, revealed the details of the update, which brought a significant reduction in the prices of imported vehicles.
Rodríguez Dávila acknowledged that cars are currently being sold for more than 500 percent of their value, although this will change after mentioning that a car that currently costs between 55,000 and 60,000 will cost about 15,900 with the new measures.
"Today, the vehicles for sale come from imports and others from those that conclude in tourism rentals. Selling prices are formed by market correlation among individuals and have a margin that ranges from 350% to 500%, of which 30% is the commercial margin of the marketer and the rest forms a special tax that, although collected in USD or MLC, is credited in national currency at a rate of 1x24 into a fund managed by the Ministry of Transport and is used for various purposes outlined in the approved procedure," he commented, as quoted by Cubadebate.
With the new provisions, all vehicles that will be sold in convertible currency will essentially be imports, considering that those concluding in tourism will have other destinations, primarily in national currency, the digital portal stated.
Regarding the new calculation of the total sale of a specific vehicle, it will be the same for individuals and legal entities, which brings another change: the prices of cars sold to Mipymes and individuals are equalized, which previously had to pay more.
"It is formed from the import cost including tariffs, plus the commercial margin of the distributor which decreases from 30% to 20%, plus a differentiated special tax that ranges from 0% for an electric vehicle assembled in Cuba, to 35% for a high-end vehicle," stated the minister.
"If we take an example, for all those who want to understand well how much a vehicle will cost them in foreign currency in the future in Cuba, we have that if we take one that has a supplier value of 10,000 USD, the sale price to the buyer will be about 15,900 USD; however, that same vehicle with the current pricing rules would cost more than 50,000 USD," he stated.
Individuals will be able to purchase motor vehicles at authorized dealerships in convertible currency: IMPEXPORT and CIMEX S.A., to which the mixed company MCV Comercial S.A. is added.
Another novelty is that in addition to what is established for electric mopeds and motorcycles, "it will also be possible to import, as unaccompanied luggage of passengers or shipments, internal combustion or hybrid mopeds and motorcycles, with or without sidecars, new or used (up to 10 years), of up to 250 cc, and electric or hybrid tricycles, with a capacity of more than two seats or for cargo."
Rodríguez pointed out that they will demand that the vehicles arriving in the country be in optimal working condition, for which the Ministry of Transport will issue recommendations to suppliers so that they know which brands they can import.
Hours before the program, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila had already shared a group of recent data on social media, and included two infographics detailing how the government shapes the prices of imported vehicles.
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