El Siglo newspaper reports that new car imports have increased 5 to 7% in the past two months as a result of a the passing of Norm 2-99 that reduced taxes on new vehicles. The measure reduces taxes on new cars, not those on old cars. In the first five months of the year, Customs statistics show that 8,816 vehicles of different categories were imported. The Dirección General de Impuestos Internos has 1,334,109 vehicles in the DR registered. Of this amount, 689,959 are motorcycles; 359,900 are private cars; 177,775 are cargo vehicles; 35,729 are jeeps; 27,073 are private buses; 5,515 are interurban taxis and 861 are tourism transport vehicles. Likewise, 1,632 are public urban transport buses; 6,706 are tow vehicles; 400 are ambulances; 128 freight elevators; 78 funeral cars; 1,004 buses for the transport of tourists; 8,313 dump trucks; and 8,908 heavy machinery vehicles. New vehicle imports in the DR average 16,000 units a year for a population of 8 million inhabitants, or two new vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants. Puerto Rico imports 3.4 vehicles per 100 persons a year.
