Automobile dealer hoping for 50% of last year’s Q1 earnings in Q1 2021

Automobile dealers are hopeful that 2021 will bring about much better business than last year, with one leading dealer aiming to generate in the first quarter of 2021 at least 50 percent of the revenue recorded during the same period last year.

General Manager of Bahamas Bus and Truck and Vice President of the Bahamas Motor Dealers Association Ben Albury said the last few months of 2020 were sluggish and early numbers show the company will be about 25 to 30 percent down from 2019.

Although the return to commerce in the last few months of 2020 has shown some positive signs for the economy, Albury said the tough lending stance taken by banks has contributed to slow sales.

“The last few months of last year were sluggish. I think the next three months are really going to be a good indicator of where we’re going. I see Atlantis is furloughing employees again and the tourism industry is having a sluggish start, so I think it’s expected that until employment levels can reach somewhere back to where they were before, there are going to be issues especially with businesses like ours that are credit driven and that require people to get in most cases access to finance. I think the banks are still being somewhat cautious in making sure that they dot their i’s and cross their t’s as it comes to financing and loans. But we have seen some good traffic, which is always a good indicator,” he told Guardian Business yesterday.

“If you don’t have traffic, you definitely do not have business. It’s just a matter of translating that into qualified buyers that can obtain access to financing and close deals. But I’m always optimistic; we have a resilient economy. There’s still a lot of construction going on after Dorian and I have seen some of that with construction vehicles, which is always a good thing, that things are steady. But I’m really going to watch the next three months especially and see how the first quarter kicks off. Hopefully from there, things will get better and better as things continue to open up and hopefully return to some sort of normalcy.”