By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian auto dealers are “keeping our fingers crossed” that the 2017 first quarter represents the start of a trend, after new car sales increased 12 per cent year-over-year.

Fred Albury, the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association’s (BMDA) president, yesterday told Tribune Business that a “pick up” in consumer floor traffic during early 2017 that was providing encouragement that better times may lie ahead for the industry.

He added that he personally was “a bit more optimistic” about the new vehicle market’s immediate future, with the general election outcome also helping to create a more upbeat mood.

“I think in all in all we’re up about 12 per cent for the first quarter,” Mr Albury said of the collective BMDA member performance. “It’s picked up a little bit.

“A lot of our business has become fleet business, business with the Government and rent-a-car companies. We’ve also been focusing on service and parts.”

Mr Albury said fleet deals had driven much of the year-over-year sales increase, as opposed to sales to private individuals. However, he added: “In all fairness, floor traffic has picked up a bit.

“Consumers that normally buy new autos have been hanging on to their old cars, but maintenance and mileage have caught up, and a lot of them a coming in now to look at new vehicles.

“Hopefully, we’re on the upswing of the cycle, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

The Bahamian new car industry has struggled for almost a decade to rebound from the effects of the 2008-2009 global recession, with total sales down by more than 60 per cent - almost two-thirds - from their pre-downturn high.

The sector’s rebound efforts were further thrown off-course by the introduction of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on January 1, 2015, which increased the cost of already-expensive products in an envrionment of reduced disposable incomes and low business/consumer confidence.

Mr Albury, though, expressed cautious hope that the three months to end-March may be the start of an improving trend for new auto sales.

“I’m a bit optimistic about it,” he told Tribune Business. “We’re in a new political cycle, the people have spoken and everybody I speak to is positive about what happened [with the election], so I’m feeling reasonably positive about the situation.

“My concern is the used cars and Grand Bahama. We need to jumpstart the economy there. If we get that going, and keep the Budget under control here, we’ll be on the right track. While people’s expectations are up, we need to give the new government some time to correct the situation.”

Mr Albury acknowledged that new auto sales for April 2017 were down year-over-year, but attributed this to the fact that the annual Car Show had been postponed due to construction works at the Mall at Marathon venue.

“April is down compared to last year,” he confirmed, “because we couldn’t have the Car Show, and that is not going to happen now until the end of September or early October at the Mall.

“We’re going to do it at the Mall. This is the sort of timeframe we’re getting from them; that the renovations will be done, and we can use the Mall.”