Their efforts to have imports of used, rebuilt and even new parts curbed through high duties or even import restrictions have fallen silent for the time being. According to assemblers sales are down 60 percent for the first four months of 1999 in comparison to 1998, which also produced sales below expectations. The principal clients for locally manufactured parts and components are the 14 assembly operations in the country. While vehicle population has not decreased, the age of the fleet is increasing, with the average age of a car now estimated at over 12 years. Thus, local production of spare parts and their import have not decreased as much as could be expected under the current economic circumstances.
Industry reports, while somewhat pessimistic, indicate that sales continue at an acceptable level.
In addition, the increasing sales of Colombian and Ecuadorian made cars are partially due to the fact that they enter the country duty-free under Andean Common Market regulations. The sale of service equipment to individual repair shops has shown a dramatic decrease because of high costs and devaluation. On the other hand, there is an aggressive undertaking by domestic and foreign companies in the construction of new gasoline service stations and the upgrading and modernization of existing ones. Sales of equipment used by such facilities are increasing and might continue to increase since published plans call for the construction of 1,200 new service stations over the next few years. The U.S. is the principal supplier of such equipment.