Panama Full Year 2018: Toyota Hilux reclaims lead, Toyota Rush and Nissan Kicks strong

The new generation Toyota Rush is an instant success in Panama.

New vehicle sales in Panama are down a steep 10.6% year-on-year in 2018 to add up to 50.889 units. All segments are down, but sedans drop the most at -18.8% to 17.524 vs. 21.590 in 2017, for the first time slipping below SUVs (-5.4% to 18.501) while pickups drop 4% to 7.703, luxury vehicles edge down 0.9% to 2.410, trucks are down 9.8% to 1.546, buses down 8.4% to 1.127, vans down 10.1% to 888 and minivans down 14% to 885. However in November (+32.6%) and December (+22.6%) the market spectacularly rallied back, which could indicate growth is on the horizon for 2019.

Toyota remains by far the most popular carmaker in the country with just under 20% share, distancing Hyundai at 15.2%, Kia at 12.8% and Nissan at 12.2%. Suzuki rounds up the Top 5 ahead of Honda and Mitsubishi. Chevrolet and Ford are the only non-Asian brands in the Top 10. Model-wise, the Toyota Hilux reclaims the lead off the Kia Rio for the first time since 2014, with the Toyota Yaris, Rush and Nissan Kicks also reportedly in the Top 5 – however it remains unclear whether the figures supplied by ADAP were in fact for December only – in which case they would need to be divided by 10.

Previous post: Panama Full Year 2017: Toyota and Kia Rio hold onto lead

Full Year 2018 Top 10 brands and Top 5 models below.