Newcomers grow and promise to change national ranking
Valor Econômico
The increasingly tighter competition in the Brazilian market of cars and light commercial vehicles is progressively changing the ranking of the makers that operate in the country and revealing a new game of forces in the industry. Although the four largest - Fiat, Volkswagen, GM and Ford, exactly in that order in 2010, according to data of the Fenabrave (National Federation of Distribution of Automotive Vehicles) - are still responsible for the expressive slice of 74% of the sales in the country, the so-called "newcomers", mainly the Asian Hyundai, Nissan and Kia, are biting a significant part of the sales and they stand out for their aggressiveness in gaining market share. And the trend is that such movement gains more vigor in the next years due to the maintenance of positive fundamentals for the Brazilian car industry, the arrival of Chinese competitors, and the launching of a compact by Toyota, with local production.
In a decade, the first four placed in the national ranking have already lost, together, a share equivalent to more than 10 percent points, in a movement that sped up between 2008 and last year. In this recent period, while Fiat lost nearly 2 percent points of the market - although it has remained the leader -, in a movement followed by Volks and GM, Hyundai, which now appears in the top 10 group in the country, increased its share from 1.64% to 3.18%, as well as the Korean Kia, from 0.76% to 1.64%. As regards Nissan, it grabbed 1.08% of the sales in 2010, compared to 0.66% in 2008.
One of the symptoms of the increase of the competition in 2010 appeared in the traditional year-end registration of cars, system that involves the licensing prior to the effective sale to the final consumer, with the purpose of preserving or boosting the market share of the makers and assuring the achievement of goals. In December, according to data of the Fenabrave, those artificial sales increased in 45 thousand units the monthly balance of the sector, above the volumes historically registered.
Also because of this movement, December ended up featuring the best performance in a month in the history of the car industry, with 361,197 cars and light commercial vehicles licensed. The result stayed at nearly 100 thousand units above the forecasts of the entity and one of the consequences of the anticipation of the licensing should be the strong reduction in the sales of brand-new cars in January. There are rumors of a 30% fall in the industry compared to December, said Reze.
In the year, a new record for the sector, 3.515 million new cars sold, growth of 11.91% compared to the sales of 2009. In reality, the annual numbers were records for all segments analyzed: cars, SUVs, trucks and buses. Between cars and light commercial vehicles, 3.329 million vehicles were sold, growth of 10.63% compared to 2009. Fiat has once again led the ranking of the makers, with a market share of 22.84%, followed by Volkswagen (20.95%), GM (19.75%) and Ford (10.1%).