Chile Day 2024 – Why Invest in Chile? Insight from Liz Brown, Chief Strategy Officer
This week I was honoured to take part in World Chile Day in London. Now in its 15th year, the event is held annually to foster business and trade links between Chile and the United Kingdom.
At this year’s event, I was invited to speak on a panel: ‘Why Invest in Chile?’ alongside Dheeraj Bhatia from Hapag-Lloyd and Jaime Besa from Southern Cross Group.
‘Why Invest in Chile?’ is an easy question for Inchcape to answer. We have been in-country since 1993 and we are proud of the business we have built there: 24 brand partners, a 25% market share and over 3,500 employees all demonstrate what is possible in Chile.
Chile’s unique benefits
Our success in Chile is possible because of the unique benefits it offers. The country has a democratic, stable, pro-business environment, fast approval processes when we are making investments and a national commitment to green mobility, which mirrors our own.
Chile’s motorisation rate and GDP growth make it an attractive environment in which to build our own business. At the same time, Chile’s geographic location makes it an excellent location to grow Inchcape in Latin America and beyond.
As well as this, Chile has a high-quality and diverse talent pool, strongly motivated to acquire and develop the skills we need to grow our business.
Inchcape in Chile
Since entering the Chilean market in the early nineties, Inchcape’s substantial growth in-country has accelerated, organically and through acquisition. We have invested over £1.4bn there and most recently acquired Derco, at the end of 2022. This acquisition has solidified Inchcape’s position as a leading distributor, and we are now responsible for one in four vehicle sales in Chile.
Commitment to Sustainability
As we highlighted in our Sustainability Report (The Global Mobility Transition, Delivered Locally) Inchcape is completely committed to the mobility transition. We know that Chile is committed to the transition too, and we are proud of a growing market share in electric vehicles, some 27%, with an offer spanning entry-level to premium vehicles.
A springboard for growth and a regional hub
As well as a key market, Chile is a regional hub for Inchcape in the Americas, for colleagues across the region to utilise. It is also the professional home to a team of experts from Inchcape Digital who support our Digital Delivery Centres, to drive innovative data and digital solutions for partners and customers around the world.
The Future
Inchcape has exciting plans in the Americas and Chile will play a vital role in realising our ambitions in the region.