Car sales grow 15% in May and breaks new record
Folha de S. Paulo - 06/03/2008
The car industry has broken another record last month, when 229,974 automobiles and light commercial vehicles, such as pick-up trucks and vans, were sold, the best historical result for a month of May. The data was released yesterday by Fenabrave (National Federation of Automotive Vehicles Distribution). Compared to the same month of 2007, there was a licensing increase of 14.8%. The accrued sales in the five first months of the year, a record, exceeded 1 million units (1,095,211), an expansion of 30.5%. Nonetheless, comparing May to April, there was a fall of 7.3%. Fenabrave corrected the figures from April, when 247,987 units were sold, and not 248,945 as it was previously informed. Still, April continues ever being the month with the most licensing. "The market is settling down at a new level", commented Sérgio Reze, president of Fenabrave. For him, the fact of April having more business days this year, due to the Easter celebration in March, and May's having less, because of the Corpus Christi celebration, did not influence the retraction. "There was also a fall in the sales per business day", he affirmed without having the accurate numbers in hand. Taking trucks, busses and motorcycles into account as well, the sales in May reached 417,099 vehicles, 14.9% more than in the same month in 2007. In the accrued sales of the year, the expansion is of 26.4%. The Volkswagen's Gol led the cars' sales in May, with licensing of 21,642 cars. For David Wong, Kaiser Associates specialized consultant for the car sector, the holding of the International Auto Show in the end of the year in São Paulo may further increase sales in that period.