The used car agency on 20th Street, between 3ª and 1ª avenue, in the municipality of Platja (Havana), appeared with a line of half a hundred people. They were looking forward to a batch of foreign exchange carts arriving this Monday. Despite the stratospheric prices, there is already a waiting list to buy them.
“They’ve been arguing here in line since I arrived a few minutes ago,” he tells 14ymedio a user who came over to see the models. “They have a very detailed list with shifts because some want to buy up to two cars. They are waiting for some to come in, but the fight is for the Renault Talisman and the Geely CK,” he explains.
In the agency, which belongs to the Cimex corporation, of the Gaesa military conglomerate, and has a monopoly on the sale of cars in the country, there are only a few “battered performances” at the moment that buyers don’t look at. “The whole discussion is for those who are going to come in, so two lists are already being made, one for each model,” the man says.
“You can come and go with confidence, my brother, on this list I’m writing everyone down,” shouts a man who is in the top of the queue, to another who wanted to leave the line for a few minutes and come back. later .
“They have a very detailed list of shifts because some want to buy up to two cars. They are waiting for some to come in, but the fight is for the Renault Talisman and the Geely CK.”
According to the establishment’s tablet, the cars on sale at the moment are the Chinese Geely CK, at $ 32,000, and two models from the French brand Peugeot: 1 Partner, at $ 63,971, and a 508, at 72,000. The coveted Renault was not on the list.
“Here in this piece of the block the ticket is ringing, the real tickets,” jokingly says a neighbor who was walking down the sidewalk in front of the parking lot.
Until February 2020, the cars were marketed in CUC, but then Cimex changed the sale to freely convertible currency (MLC) and included about 30 models, with a sale price ranging from $ 34,000-90,000.
According to the agency, the new prices had a 10% discount and the cars must be paid in one go and via magnetic card.
Since this new mode of marketing began, customer complaints have arisen about mechanical faults discovered after paying an astronomical price.
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