Brazil Automotive Sales Falls 25 Percent in Last Month

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The month of January 2017 had a 25 percent decrease in sales compared to December 2016, across of all sectors including; cars, light commercials, trucks, buses, motorcycles, and others. The data was released today (February 2nd) by the National Federation of Automotive Vehicle Distribution (FENABRAVE).

For Alarico Assumpção Júnior, president of FENABRAVE, January is traditionally a weaker month in vehicle sales due to the anticipation of purchases in December and the commitments of the population at the beginning of the year. He explains: “Year-end promotions and the 13th salary generally attract the public to buy a vehicle, such as a car.”

“The beginning of the year is marked by many financial commitments for families, such as IPVA, enrollment and school material, among others. With this, the consumer retracts to make new investments in the first month of the year,” said the president of the entity.

In total, 224,164 units were sold in January, compared to 298,898 units in the previous month. In comparison with January 2016 (260,909 units), the sector showed a drop of 14.08 percent.

The car and light commercial segments, combined, fell by 27.85 percent in January, in relation to the previous month. 143,582 units were registered, compared to 199,000 in December 2016. Compared with January last year (149,677 units), the result shows a fall of 4.07 percent.

Considering only light commercials, there was a growth of 20.4 percent in the comparison between January 2017 and the same month of 2016. However, in comparison with December of last year, there was a fall of 23.56 percent.

In FENABRAVE’s analysis, the most positive data-point was in light commercials category when comparing results between January 2017 and the same month of 2016. “There was an increase in the placements of light commercials, which shows a signs of recovery in the economy,” said Assumpção Júnior.

Automobile sales in Brazil for 2015 fell by 25.59 percent in comparison to the previous year, despite the encouraging numbers seen in December. The year before the sale of new vehicles was down 15.2 percent (comparing March 2014 to March 2013), according to the data from ANFAVEA.

In 2013 The National Department of Traffic (Denatran) statistics show that over the previous ten years, the number of cars in Brazil had increased 123 percent, and the number of vehicles in Brazil was set to reach eighty million for the first time.