New Boost for Electric Car Sales

Favorable financing conditions for the purchase of this type of vehicle and lower rates for freight services are part of the actions proposed by the government of Costa Rica to boost sales of electric vehicles.

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

The state-owned Banco Popular, Banco Nacional and Banco de Costa Rica are the financial entities that will offer attractive conditions in their credit lines for the purchase of electric transportation units.

You may be interested in "Electric Cars: Who Are the Potential Buyers?"

Banco Popular will have special credit lines for electric buses, electric taxis, electric business fleets and electric private vehicles. In the financing for electric buses, through the Environmental Management program, the rate in colones is TBP+3 and in dollars is prime+2.50, commissions are capped at 1.5%, up to 1.5% and a term of 10 years, informed the presidency of Costa Rica.

The Bank of Costa Rica will have its credit line "PRO-ECO", which provides for the purchase of electric taxis, the interest rate has a discount on the current vehicle product, 80% financing, with a term of up to 5 years. For electric vehicles to individuals, will offer interest rates with discounted rate with respect to the current vehicle product, the percentage of financing in colones of 90% and in dollars is 80%, term up to 7 years, discounts on the formalization commission (depending on type of customer) and 0% commission for advance payment.

Also see "Auto parts: Market Figures in 2018"

On the other hand, the National Bank announced that it will promote preferential credit lines for the purchase of both electric buses and electric vehicles for individuals.

In the case of the Regulatory Authority of Public Services (ARESEP), began the development of an electric tariff for electric bus charging nationwide, which will be completed during the first quarter of 2020, in order to facilitate the incorporation of this type of technology in the fleet of regular route buses.

This is a flat rate with favorable conditions to allow loading on the campuses, explains a government statement, released on October 2.

CentralAmericaData reported that because of tax benefits that have been granted to the import of electric cars, the number of units that entered Costa Rica went from 40 in 2017 to 350 in 2018.

¿Busca soluciones de inteligencia comercial para su empresa?

Do you need more information about your business sector?

Request more information:









this site is protected by reCAPTCHA and Google's privacy policy and terms of service.
Need assistance? Contact us
(506) 4001-6423


More on this topic

Electric Cars: Good Expectations for 2020

October 2019

New models, better financing conditions and increased imports of used units would boost the sale of electric vehicles next year in Costa Rica.

Danissa, Q Group, BMW and Laudreni Auto, agencies in the country dedicated to marketing electric vehicles, estimate that between 2019 and 2020 their combined sales will increase by 45%, from 342 to 497 units.

Cars, Spare Parts and the Price of the Dollar

June 2017

In Costa Rica, companies in the automotive sector predict that eventual abrupt increases in the price of the dollar would have a greater impact on the spare parts market than on the sale of vehicles.

Most of the vehicle distribution agencies in the country agree that if the exchange rate continues its upward trend, a negative effect could be seen on the automotive spare parts market, since these are products that are imported in dollars but sold in colones, the local currency. In the case of vehicles, which are marketed in dollars, most companies believe that the dollar price increase has not yet had a significant impact, but they are focusing on advising their customers on how to manage the foreign exchange risk when taking out a loan to buy a car.

Costa Rica: Used Cars Lose Appeal

March 2016

In the past five years used cars lost 24% of market share due to improvements made in installment terms and interest on loans for buying new vehicles.

The market for used vehicles in Costa Rica has seen five years of decline, lacking attractive incentives for imports and being at a competitive disadvantage to the new vehicles market.

Auto Credit Up 17%

April 2013

Analysis has been conducted on the composition of the loan portfolio to buy vehicles, one of the fastest growing sectors in recent years.

In the past five years, auto financing in Panama has been increasing, in February Panamanian banks provided loans of this type worth $813 million.

ok