By Wendy Anders

In June GrupoQ Corporation opened a state-of-the-art digital showroom for its new Hyundai models on the first floor of Alajuela’s City Mall, adjacent to the Juan Santamaría International Airport.

This novel showroom, the first of its kind in Latin America, allows potential buyers to experience different car models on digital screens in addition to viewing the cars themselves, said GrupoQ in a press statement.

The 425-square meter room is equipped with 14 tactile screens, and lighting and sound technology which give a real-life driving experience and feel for the South Korean-brand Hyundai vehicles.

GrupoQ said they sell 650 Hyundai vehicles per year in Costa Rica.

The showroom represents an estimated $250,000 investment by GrupoQ, according to the Costa Rican EKA Business Magazine.

Grupo Q was founded in 1952 in El Salvador by Samuel Quiros Balladres as a distributor of tractors and spare parts, diversifying into motor vehicle, parts and services sales. In 1962 the Group acquired the rights to distribute cars for Nissan Motor Company in El Salvador and later expanded into other Japanese, American and Korean brands. Grupo Q also expanded geographically, obtaining the rights to sell various automotive vehicle brands across Central America. Grupo Q is majority owned by the Quiros family of El Salvador, according to the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The company is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) as Grupo Q Interamerica Corp (https://www.avoxdata.com). The British Virgin Islands is the most popular tax haven in the recent Panama Papers scandal.

In September 2007, CrediQ, the automotive finance holding subsidiary of Grupo Q Holding (Grupo Q), received a package of long-term senior loans of up to US$20 million in aggregate from the World Bank “to support the expansion of four automotive finance subsidiaries of Grupo Financiero CrediQ (CrediQ) in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica,” according to the IFC website.

“In addition to funding the subsidiaries,” continued the IFC statement, “the IFC will bring to the investment its technical expertise in supporting non-bank financial institutions and will make available its knowledge in this sector to help strengthen CrediQ.”