Makers resume pre-crisis level
Folha de S. Paulo - 04/14/2009
Little more than six months after the worsening of the financial crisis, the employees of car makers are already working overtime in order to meet the demand for automobiles, warmed by the reduction of the IPI (Excise Tax). Between January and March, the car industry registered strong growth and, in at least two plants - one of the Volkswagen and another one of the GM -, the rhythm of production is already the same as in the pre-crisis period. The number of jobs in the sector, however, continued falling in the period. In March, the car sector registered its best sales result for a month of March. 271,494 vehicles were sold, 17% more than in the same period of 2008. The first quarter was also the best quarter ever in the history of the industry, with the licensing of 668,314 vehicles.
At the Volkswagen plant in Taubaté (SP), the production has already resumed the rhythm of production it had before the crisis - nearly 1,050 cars a day. A similar situation is experienced by the GM plant in Gravataí (RS). In the GM plants of São José dos Campos and São Caetano do Sul, the production is already at the levels of 2007 and there are also sectors in which the employees are working overtime, as inform the steelworkers union. In the unit of São José dos Campos, where in January GM laid off 744 employees, the production, which at the apex of the crisis fell to 500 cars a day, is now at nearly 780. In the Ford unit in Camaçari (BA), the production is at 800 cars a day, according to steelworkers union. The daily peak of the production, before the crisis, was 912 cars.