Business

In short: Panama's economy rests on five pillars that reinforce one another: the US dollar as legal tender since 1904, the Canal, an international banking centre with more than 160 billion dollars in assets, a logistics and services platform built around the interoceanic waterway, and a territorial tax regime that only taxes income generated inside the country. With them, gross domestic product grew 4.4% in the last full year measured by the National Institute of Statistics and Census, to 90.462 billion nominal dollars, driven by transport and Canal tolls. Its weaknesses are structural too: double-digit unemployment, informality close to half…

In short: Panama closed 2025 with 60,233 new cars registered, 10.8% more than in 2024, and the Panama Automobile Distributors Association (ADAP) projects 2026 could approach 70,000 units. Toyota remains the best-selling brand with almost one in five cars, followed by Kia and Hyundai. Behind the podium, the change comes from Chinese brands: Geely is now fourth, and JETOUR, which grew 58% in 2025 and 45% in the first half of 2026, holds sixth place in the market and second among Chinese brands. Best-selling car brands in Panama in 2025 #BrandUnits 2025ShareChange 1Toyota11,50719.1%+2.8% 2Kia7,62612.7%+2.3% 3Hyundai6,98511.6%-0.9% 4Geely3,1385.2%+33.8% 5Suzuki3,0945.1%+16.4% …JETOUR1,9993.3%+58.1% …Forthing1,2292.0%+69.1% …Kaiyi1,0661.8%+260.1%…

In short: Panama has become the place where several car brands present their models for the whole region. JETOUR launched the T1 in Panama for eleven Latin American markets in May 2025 and the G700 in May 2026, a day before Guatemala and a week before Mexico. The reason is a combination of logistics, market and fair: the Canal and ports on both oceans, the Colón Free Zone, a record new car market with more than 60,000 units a year, a buyer open to new brands and ADAP's Panama Motor Show, which gathers more than 40 brands every October. Two…

In short: between January and July 2026, Chinese-brand cars accounted for 29.9% of new car sales in Panama, up from 24.5% a year earlier, according to the Panama Automobile Distributors Association (ADAP). Chinese brands grew 33.7% while the rest of the market grew 1.8%, and they explained 86% of total growth. Geely is now the country's fourth brand; JETOUR and Changan are the fastest growing. The rise comes with more complaints to the consumer authority Acodeco, almost all over warranty compliance, which makes after-sales service the deciding factor for buyers. The figures IndicatorJan–Jul 2025Jan–Jul 2026 New cars sold in Panama33,24336,452…