There is no doubt that the automotive industry is one of the most important for the paints and coatings market, and manufacturers allocate a significant investment in the development of new technologies for this sector.
However, the automotive industry in our region is going through different realities, as factors such as the fall in oil prices, the rise of the dollar, the current state of the Chinese market, among other factors, make the strategies of manufacturers have to be differentiated.
As it is better to start with the positive, we have to highlight the good present and promising future of Mexico. Estimates for 2020 indicate that this country would become the fifth largest producer of vehicles in the world, according to a report published by BBVA Bancomer.
Mexico has planned the construction of five new plants, which will increase the country's production by 1 million units. It currently produces 3.7 million units, and is expected to reach 5 million units in 2020. This is a reference that many coating manufacturing companies are taking into account to expand their plants, as one of the world's benchmarks with a plant in Queretaro is doing.
However, unfortunately this present is not the same in other Latin American nations, such as Brazil, where, according to Dinero Magazine, vehicle sales have decreased by almost 200,000 units in recent months. Even local surveys indicate that due to the deep and widespread recession that the nation is going through, 83% of people expect to save more this year and plan to cut their consumption.
For its part, Colombia, as another of the benchmarks in the field of the automotive market, is also registering declines. According to information from the Andi (Association of Industrialists of Colombia) the production of vehicles falls by 2.7%, sales to the domestic market fall 4.7% and total sales contract 7.1%.
Given this, our industry must act cautiously in regions with negative figures, but without ceasing to invest, because it is in cases like these it is appropriate to remember the old adage: "Crises are opportunities".
