Argentina and Chile: Neighbours with big differences
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• They share a border, but when it comes to road haulage, Argentina and Chile could hardly be more different,
In Argentina trucks move more than 85% of all goods—but only 40% of the country's roads are paved. Argentina is more than five times the size of France, though 30% of its truck parc is sold in the area surrounding the capital, Buenos Aires.
There are 14 manufacturers competing in the heavy truck market (over 16 tonnes). Scania, which manufactures in Brazil and Argentina, is market leader with a 35% share; Mercedes-Benz takes 20%, while Ivaco and Ford have 19 and 18%.
Chile is considerably smaller than its neighbour, yet has a flourishing economy with no fewer than 22 truck manufacturers for operators to choose from. They range from the North Americans like Mack (19%), Freightliner (14%) and Kenworth (8%), to Europeans including Scania (8%), Volvo (7%) and Mercedes (6%). Of Chile's 79,800km of roads only 6,300km are paved—that's well under 10%. But the Chilean economy is growing at 6.5% a year; the country has trade agreements with the Mercosur group (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay), Mexico and Canada.
In the first nine months of this year there were 2,300 trucks sold in Argentina at 200-300hp; 1,780 at 301-320hp and 1,635 at 321-370hp. Just 109 trucks came with more than 371hp.
It's a similar story in Chile, where Scania's 4-Series has been a big success since its introduction earlier this year. The company doesn't even offer the 14-litre engine there yet. Most sales have nine or 11-litre engines, the D12 is still new and 360hp considered a high-powered unit. The 420hp engine is only lust starting to sell.
The maximum weight for an artic in both Chile and Argentina is 45 tonnes, and many hauliers will keep their trucks for up to 20 years. It's all a far cry From EU regulations...