And if sailing's not your thing - you might be into cars - especially the kinds we all love so much: we mean the ones we can't afford! But it doesn't cost anything to look - and today we got an eyeful of the 2014 Toyota RAV4.
It's news because after three consecutive down years, new car sales in Belize are making a comeback - nearly 500 sold last year - and even more robust sales are expected this year.
Coupled that with the fact that prices of Japanese products are down due to currency fluctuations, and the remodeled RAV is cheaper than last year's model. Pi Marin of Belize Diesel told us more:
Israel Pi Marin - Managing Director, Belize Diesel And Equipment
"We have a new product, a new design, better features, better pricing. We're expecting that this year that - we've ordered like 30 and we've had a very strong liking for the design, so I think we will be doing very well with this unit. What we're seeing is new features, new engine, and new transmission. This one for example has a 6 speed automatic transmission, and we have 16 different models of the Rav4, models meaning options and price points, andwe have different price points in the Rav4."
Jules Vasquez
"It goes from - give me the range, lowest to highest."
Israel Pi Marin
"We're expecting to come in at around $75,000 up to $120,000 depending on the options."
Jules Vasquez
"But a Rav4, at $76,000, has to be so option-less that like it comes without seats. You'd have to put in your dining room chairs from home."
Israel Pi Marin
"It will be quite surprising of the features that are in the basic model. So, what we will see is the pricing coming out of Japan that's become very competitive, and that's due to the changes in the situation that we're seeing over the past 6 months. We've been very strong with our Prado sales and our 4Runner sales. Last year, we didn't sell as much Rav4's but this year we are expecting to double the sales of Rav4 in our market. Last year, in 2012, we had an increase in vehicle sales for about 12% and I contribute that one to the confidence of the consumer: one, a little bit of GDP growth and two, people need to move so they'll need transport. So, for 4 years where they haven't been changing their cars at some point in time they will need to do so. But, I do think is 2013 we will see a little bit more of a growth in that segment."
Marin says he expects to sell 30 of the high end $120,000 dollar RAV-4's. As we mentioned at the top, 450-475 new cars were imported last year, which is good, but not nearly as good as 2008 when 800 were sold.
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