Brazil’s automotive production saw a sharp decline in July, despite rising sales, highlighting a complex scenario in the nation’s car industry.
Although Brazil ranks as the world’s eighth-largest car producer, it rolled out 183,016 vehicles in July, marking a 16.4% drop compared to the previous month.
This downturn extended across car production, light commercial vehicles, buses, and trucks, which declined by 3.3% from June, as per the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea).
Intriguingly, July sales hit a 31-month peak, witnessing a 24% surge compared to July of the previous year, totaling 225,594 units.
This sales uptick is credited to government-provided tax incentives, allowing manufacturers to offer customer discounts in June and July.
Despite these incentives and increased sales, producers chose to trim down manufacturing, addressing the high stock levels in their inventories.
They know that this artificially induced surge in demand actually has nothing to do with Brazilian reality.
For the year’s first seven months, vehicle production in Brazil touched 1,314,984 units, showing a slight 0.3% increase year-on-year.
Meanwhile, sales during the same timeframe grew by 11.3%, reaching 1,224,151 units.
On the international front, Brazil’s vehicle exports saw a 27.6% decline in July year-on-year.
The January to July window recorded a 10.6% drop in exports.
Export numbers suffered due to internal issues in key markets like Colombia and Chile, yet Mexico emerged as a silver lining, importing 83,000 Brazilian-made units this year, as per Anfavea.