Argentina March 2020: Chevrolet Onix (+12.5%) defies market hit by coronavirus lockdown (-54.4%)

The Chevrolet Onix repeats at #1 in Argentina in March.

On March 20, the Argentinean government imposed one of the strictest Coronavirus lockdowns in the world, meaning automotive factories, dealerships and registration offices closed for the rest of the month. As such, these sales figures are for the March 1-19 period as not a single new vehicle was allowed to be registered afterwards. Many dealerships in the country have made their demo vehicles available to health personnel so they can transport sick patients. As such, March sales in Argentina are down -54.4% year-on-year to 17.739 units, pulling the year-to-date tally down -34.7% to 90.392. Note March 2019 sales were already down -53.7% year-on-year as the coronavirus has hit the Argentinean market at an already very difficult time. Second note: the 17.739 sales over the first 19 days of March were actually up 3% on the same period in January 2020 and up 13.1% on the first 19 days of February.

Brand-wise, Toyota (-29%) resists much better than the market and grabs the pole position at 17% share, distancing Volkswagen (-58.3%) and Chevrolet (-40.9%) up one spot on February to #3 and also resisting somewhat better. Jeep (-27.1%), Fiat (-51.7%) and Nissan (-53.5%) also manage to lose less ground than the market in the remainder of the Top 10 but Renault (-73.9%), Ford (-70.4%), Peugeot (-65.1%) and Citroen (-64.8%) are hit particularly hard. In the models ranking, the Chevrolet Onix (+12.5%) brilliantly repeats at #1 and hits a record 9.2% share, also becoming the only Top 40 model in positive. It sells almost 500 units more than the #2, the Toyota Hilux (-36.1%) while the Toyota Etios (-23.4%) rounds out the podium with a good hold. The Toyota Yaris (-7.2%) also vastly outperforms the market and gains 10 spots on February to #6 as does the VW Amarok (-56.7%) up to #8. The VW T-Cross remains by far the best-selling recent launch and signs a third straight Top 10 finish at #9.

Previous month: Argentina February 2020: Chevrolet Onix (+29.9%) scores 2nd ever win in market down -31.7%

One year ago: Argentina March 2019: Renault repeats at #1 in market imploding -53.7%

Full March 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 225 All-models below.