IN November, Jamaica Rent-A-Car Association said it is exploring non-traditional vehicle markets to diversify its motor vehicle offerings to its 25-member strong organisation who caters mostly to clients in the hospitality sector. More specifically, the organisation’s President Orville Spence said while there has been support for Japanese cars over the years, eyes are now being cast on Chinese models which are becoming increasingly familiar on the roads in Jamaica.

“We want our members to see various options that are on the market. We have presented them with options from Chinese manufacturers that are being distributed here in Jamaica,” Spence said told his members at the organisation’s 55th annual general meeting at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) headquarters in St Andrew in November.

Typically, such announcements might not raise eyebrows, but given the Jamaica Rent-A-Car Association’s significant purchasing power, this move is noteworthy. The association’s members collectively buy around 2,000 new cars annually, accounting for roughly a quarter of Jamaica’s total new car sales, which totalled just over 8,000 units in 2023.

Data for the sale of the Chinese car brands in Jamaica in 2024 show that before long, it could be a significant portion of all new car sales in Jamaica.

BYD, China’s biggest car brand, sold about 85 vehicles in Jamaica in 2024, but is looking to double that this year. MG, the newest Chinese car brand in the ATL Automotive Group, sold 40 units in the last three months of 2024.

GWM Haval’s Sales Manager Titanya Clarke declined to disclose specific numbers, saying only that “our numbers are good” in an industry where “everybody knows where they are.” Separately, people familiar with the matter said Haval’s sales exceeded those of BYD by more than three-to-one in 2024.

Jetcon Corporation aims to sell about 10 BAIC units monthly, a company spokesperson said.

Praxedes Castillo Bellapart, general manager at Bella Castle International, said Changan targets sales similar to those achieved in the Dominican Republic.

“I started with Changan seven years ago in Dominican Republic. We started selling 100 units per year. And by the third year, we were selling 3,000 units….And now here in Jamaica, we want to do the same,” he told Business Observer.

Changan’s sales in the Dominican Republic rank among the top five, Bellapart said, citing the brand’s growing recognition.

In Jamaica, Toyota, Kia, Honda, and Hyundai led new car sales in 2024, in that order, according to data compiled by the industry.

The players selling Chinese car brands say as sales pick up for each brand, it will be easier for people to accept them, especially for EV models.

“If [selling] a Honda is a 2-minute conversation, Kia is a 5-min conversation, an EV it is a half-hour conversation,” Courtney Smith, BYD sales manager for Kingston, told Business Observer. Smith said people are often nervous about switching to electric vehicles having grown up more used to petrol vehicles.

Andrew Jackson, CEO of Jetcon Corporation, said though the process of adopting Chinese car brands in Jamaica is slow, the progress is encouraging as people realised they are oftentimes better than the traditional models.

“Car buyers are very quality conscious. If these cars weren’t of good quality, you wouldn’t see so many of them on the road right now, in Jamaica or anywhere else you go. You wouldn’t be seeing so many of them around the place if it was just a matter of price,” Jackson said.

“The Chinese cars have improved in quality, significantly over the past five years, I mean quantum leap. Cars we getting out of China now are comparable to the Japanese and Korean cars. Five, six years ago, they were not,” he added.

Jackson pointed out that many countries in Latin America and Africa have adopted Chinese car brands. BYD, for example, has entered the top 10 of global car companies by sales, surpassing established luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

“It’s not Jamaica alone. It is happening all over the world except probably North America, and the only reason why they have not hit North America is because of the whole US/China trade situation,” he pointed out as he expressed optimism that brands like Haval, BAIC, BYD, Changan and Jetour will soon be better established in Jamaica.

To make his case, Jackson used the example of BAIC, the car his company distributes.

“The company that we represent, BAIC, they are partners with Mercedes-Benz in China. Now what has happened is that Mercedes wants to sell their cars in China, China is the biggest car market in the world. And with Mercedes wanting to sell their cars in China, they have two options: one, export them from Germany or wherever and pay a high tariff, or manufacture them in China and pay no duties. But the problem is if they want to manufacture in China, they have to have a joint venture partner in China, and it is through these partnerships that they have learnt how to build cars properly, through technology transfer.”

He said as people learn that Chinese car brands were built, initially through partnerships like these, it will be easier to accept them.

“I suspect in another couple of years, you are going to be seeing a significant number of brands coming into Jamaica marked ‘Made in China’.”