Car sales in April is the greatest in history
Folha de S. Paulo - 05/03/2008
The figures from Fenabrave (National Federation of Automotive Vehicles Distribution) published yesterday showed April was the best month in sales ever. 248,945 cars and light commercial vehicles, such as pick-up trucks and vans, were licensed, surpassing the mark of October, 2007. The growth reached 46.4% compared to last year's April. From January to April, 866,463 vehicles accumulate an increase of 35.6% compared to the same period of 2007. Last month, bifuel cars and commercial light vehicles represented 86.97% of the sales, according to the data from the entity. In the per-maker share, Fiat led the sales last month, with 25.3% of market share. Volkswagen (22.7%) and GM (22.0%) also have more than one-fifth of the market. Taking into account only the licensings made by individuals, the position is inverted in the two first places. Fenabrave also analyzes the sales per region. The Southeast Region concentrated 54.67% of the sales last month; the South, 17.97%. The Northeast, on its turn, was responsible for 14.07% of the licensings. In April, the segment of motorcycles, with 173,736 licensed units, had the same growth of 35.46% in comparison to the same month of 2007. In the four-month period (609,464), the growth was 22.94%. Anef (Brazilian Association of Automobile Financial Companies) released only this market figures until February. The credit balance for the acquisition of vehicles per individuals had an increase of 44.9%, going from R$ 80.6 billion (US$ 41.8 billion) in February, 2007, to R$ 116.8 billion (US$ 70.8 billion) in the same month of this year. Commercial leasing presented an even greater increase (120.9%), going from R$ 15.3 billion (US$ 7.93 billion) to R$ 33.8 billion (US$ 20.5 billion) in this comparison. Financing by means of CDC (which stands for Direct Consumer Credit in Portuguese) had an increase of 27.1%, from R$ 65.3 billion (US$ 33.8 billion) to R$ 83.0 billion (US$ 50.3 billion).