01/07/2009 14h54
Car market to grow 4% in 2009
Gazeta Mercantil 01/07/2009
The Brazilian market will grow nearly 4% this year, regardless the financial crisis that affected the sales of cars in the last months. According to the forecast of the National Federation of Automotive Vehicle Distribution (Fenabrave), nearly 2.78 million cars and light commercial vehicles will be sold in 2009, compared to the accumulated sales of 2.67 million vehicles in 2008. However, the CEO of the entity, Sérgio Reze, points out that this figure should be reviewed because, in March, the Government resumes the collection of IPI (Excise Tax) on the sales of cars up 2.0 liters of engine capacity. Reze affirmed Brazil is far from having a matured market, like the Japanese one, where sales are saturated. According to him, Brazil should only have its growth exhausted in 15 or 20 years. According to him, the measures to stimulate the sales of cars at the end of last year were successful. In December, 183.9 thousand units were sold, a growth of 10.61% compared to the month of November, when R$ 8 billion were injected in the economy to activate bank credit. Regarding December 2007, however, the sales of cars and light commercial vehicles fell 20.49% going from 231.31 thousand to 183.91 thousand units. Reze also affirmed that with the positive sales of December makers should get back to work at full steam. "Stocks were significantly reduced in these last 20 days, when the reduction of IPI went into effect. Those who can are buying", said the manager. Among the makers, Fiat ended 2008 in the leadership, with 24.62% of market share, followed by Volkswagen, with 21.91%. General Motors appears in third place, with 20.54%, followed by Ford, with 9.74% of the sales of cars and light commercial vehicles. However, among the models that sold the most last year, Volkswagen's Gol, continues in the leadership with 32.56% of the market. In second place is Fiat's Palio, with 22.46.
