By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Passenger vehicle licensing in Brazil, grew by 38.86 percent in March of 2017 compared to February according to the National Federation of Automotive Vehicle Distribution (FENABRAVE). In comparison to March of 2016 the growth was of 6.11 percent.
Although the growth from February to March was affected by the lower number of workdays during February, FENABRAVE officials believe signs of economic recovery are already appearing in the sector.
“Despite the maintenance of the country’s political and economic uncertainties, we believe that the cumulative fall curve should cool so that we can grow moderately until the end of this year,” said Alarico Assumpção, FENABRAVE President in the entity’s website.
According to the entity 183,850 vehicles were registered during the month. In the accumulated total for January through March, however, the segment registered a decrease of 1.12 percent.
The Federation’s balance sheet shows that if light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses were included, sales growth increased by 5.5 percent in March of 2015 in comparison with March 2016 and 39.43 percent in relation to February 2017.
Considering the entire vehicle distribution sector, which also includes motorcycles, road equipment and other vehicles, there was a growth of 37.91 percent in March compared to February.
In addition to the positive news in the new vehicle registration segment, the used vehicle segment has also shown strength. Transactions of used vehicles, considering all the automotive segments (automobiles, light commercials, trucks, buses, motorcycles, road implements and other vehicles), presented growth of 26.58 percent in March, in comparison with the previous month, according to FENABRAVE.