The global trend is to have vehicles that are increasingly safer and more environmentally friendly. To achieve this, vehicle manufacturers invest many resources in the development of state-of-the-art technology that ensures these two characteristics. The brake to incorporate modern vehicles in Mexico is not the availability of the product, but the energy infrastructure, added to the accessibility of financing and government support.
Undoubtedly, it is necessary to have newer and safer vehicles, taking into account that more than 30% of the vehicle fleet is over 20 years old, while the average age of tractor-trailers is around 19 years and trucks almost 23 years.
"In our country we have a great challenge: to promote vehicle renewal mainly in micro and small businesses, because they need that push to be able to transition to more modern vehicles," Miguel Elizalde, executive president of the National Association of Bus Producers, explained in an interview. , Trucks and Tractor Trucks (ANPACT).
To stimulate dialogue, ANPACT has held meetings with the Ministry of Economy (SE), the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).
"We promote the issue of vehicle renewal due to the benefits it has in public health and in improving the competitiveness of carriers, but we are certain that there are many carriers that are not subject to credit and that need a guarantee, the big issue is that they are microenterprises that need macrocredits, because usually the loans for them are small, this is what makes the issue complex and it is precisely where development banks have to enter?, explained Elizalde.
However, despite the urgency of renewing the vehicle fleet with cleaner technologies, to date there is no government project that contemplates this issue as a priority, as the United States government has done as part of its anti-inflation plan in which included medium-term investments in different sectors such as buildings, transportation and decarbonization of the industry.
"Some programs have been maintained with Nacional Financiera and we have participated in some work groups with the SHCP, but what we see is that many of the supports are not being channeled to micro-enterprises, but directly to people, we understand that this administration is focused on helping people over companies, even if these micro-enterprises are run by two people, which we see as an area of ??opportunity,? Elizalde explained.
According to the executive president of the ANPACT, to achieve the objective it is necessary for the government to act as a guarantee of the micro-entrepreneurs of motor transport. He indicated that the problem is that the carrier that is not subject to credit will not be able to get out of the negative cycle in which his unit spends more time in the workshop than on the street, with the consequent increase in maintenance costs.
"We insist on the professionalization of the sector, there is a great area of ??opportunity for micro and small entrepreneurs to access financing that suits their needs, but the government must get involved because the benefit in reducing emissions and road safety is for All society. But it would also improve the country"s logistics platform, because it strengthens motor transport, which is the main link in the logistics chain," he explained.
