ANSA McAl Group of Companies on Wednesday opened the doors of their Ansa Motors Guyana Inc., where they will, for the first time, be selling the Suzuki brand of motor vehicles here.

“Since I was appointed as Country Head of the Ansa McAl Group of Companies in January 2017, one of my roles has been to seek opportunities where Ansa McAl can expand in Guyana. At the time this had less to do with the oil directly, but more so the investments, infrastructure and increased business activity”, Beverly Harper said at the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon to mark the opening of the Beterverwagting (BV), East Coast Demerara-based business.

Harper at the time was addressing an audience that included Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, other high-level officials of her company and representatives from several commercial banks.

Harper reflected on a conversation she had with Minister Gaskin prior to the 2015 General Elections, about the cost to import a vehicle, which was “prohibitive unless one was entitled to duty-free concessions. Hence the reason for the proliferation of ‘reconditioned’ cars being sold in Guyana since the 1990s. She said Gaskin was of the opinion that everyone should have an opportunity to purchase a new vehicle at a more reasonable cost and that duties and taxes be lowered.”

“Prophetically, in 2017, when excise taxes were considerably reduced or eliminated for vehicles below 1600cc, we immediately looked to our sister companies in Trinidad (and Tobago) to consider exploring the possibilities of acquiring vehicles distribution in Guyana. Ansa Motors has been part of both Trinidad and Barbados for years and through these relationships, we have approached many manufacturers, but the first we have acquired is that of Suzuki,” Harper said.

Through the Interamericana Trading Corporation (ITC), Suzuki will be their first of many brands of vehicle being sold at Ansa Motors Guyana (Inc.), at a starting price, according to Harper, that will be approximately 25 – 30% lower than a five-year-old model coming from Japan. “Brand new doesn’t mean new paint job, but a new car in totality that is guaranteed as trouble-free for five years. We are about to launch a campaign that states that buying a car should not be a lottery,” said Harper.

Meanwhile, Minister Gaskin, in congratulating the entity, highlighted that one of the indicators of the well-being of Guyana’s economy is the extent to which international companies and international brands can establish viable operations. “The point being that no one is going to come to Guyana to establish a retail business if the economy could not sustain it. So there must be a sense within this company that the Guyana market can sustain this venture,” Gaskin opined.

Minister Gaskin recounted expressing the views, pre-election, that the sixty-five persons whose votes were required to change the laws that made it costly for Guyanese to own decent vehicles, were all entitled to duty-free vehicles, and therefore were not particularly concerned about that issue.

“Today, I am one of those persons and I’m happy to say that our Government has taken some small steps in the right direction to make new vehicles more affordable to Guyanese and to do so within the context of a green agenda.” “We expect to see more and more cars on our roads in the coming years and we would like those to be safer, more reliable, cleaner, greener and more energy-efficient.

And this is why we have introduced measures to encourage the automotive industry and its consumers in this direction. And so I am happy to see that the private sector is responding to policy changes,” Gaskin said.

On Saturday, November 25, between 10 – 12:00 hours, Ansa Motors Guyana Inc. will be hosting an Open House event for potential customers. The public will be able to test-drive the vehicles at the showroom, and also find out about financing from the several money-lending institutions who are expected to be present.