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COSTA RICA |
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La
Uruca, Largest New Car Showroom In The
Country
The stretch of road between Barrio Mexico
and La Pozuela in La Uruca is the largest
new car showroom in the country, with 15 new
car dealerships there and 21 brands of
vehicles than includes Alfa Romeo, BMW,
Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Daihatsu,
Dodge, Fiat, Ford, Greatwall, Honda,
Hyundai, Isuzu, Jeep, Land Rover, Mercedes
Benz, Peugeot, Skoda, Suzuki, Toyota,
Volkswagen.
The reason for the popularity is the average
42.000 vehicles (cars, trucks and buses)
that circulate on the 3.3 kilometre road
every day passing by the dealership
showrooms.
Dealerships like Grupo Q (Cheverolet and
Hyundai) abandoned their showroom on Paseo
Colon. Autos Xiri (Peugeot) moved to la
Uruca in 2005 and according to Ziri general
manager, Efrain Xirinach, sales have
increased 30%.
Purdy Motors (Toyota and Daihatsu) is the
largest of the dealerships, investing us$20
million dollars in creating "Cuidad Toyota"
(Toyotaland). Purdy opened La Uruca
dealership also in 2005, overshadowing its
flagship dealership on Paseo Colón.
The newcomer to La Uruca is Bavarian Motors,
who recently opened its dealership across
the street from AutoStar (Mercedes Benz,
Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler). AutoStar also
sells Freightliner trucks from its La Uruca
location.
Although the road is avoided by many during
rush hours, as traffic volume is beyond
capacity, the road is a main artery for
east-west traffic on the north side of San
José.
Drivers face nine traffic lights and traffic
congestion daily, a situation that seems to
have no easy solution, which can be seen as
both good or bad by the car dealers.
Mario Chavarría, subdirector of Ingenería de
Transito, recognizes that there is not much
that can be done to ease traffic congestion
and that the road is near collapse.
Chavarría, as well as many business people
located in the area, including the car
dealers, envisioned the completion of the
Circunvalación, the ring around around San
José and a overpass at the Pozuelo. However,
both projects are still only on the drawing
board and may be years, if it will be built
at all.
Even though that could one day be a reality,
many of the dealers say that the La Uruca
will continue to be good for the new card
business.
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