Sale of trucks grows 28% until March
Gazeta Mercantil- 04/03/2008
The market of trucks surprises the estimates of the assembly plants and ends the first quarter with 25,751 licensed vehicles, a volume 28% superior to that of the same period of 2007, when sales amounted to 20,118 units, according to data published by the National Federation of Automative Vehicles Distribution (Fenabrave). "The strong rhythm of the agricultural sector and the ease of credit are positively impacting the sales of trucks and this also makes our production of diesel engines grow", said Cummins do Brasil's senior director of market, Luis Pasquotto. The enginemanufacturer, which has just increased the capacity of the unit of Guarulhos (SP) from 300 to 340 engines per day, already evaluates the possibility of new investments in future demand and in new products "For this year we expected to produce 80 thousand engines - 3.8% superior to the 77 thousand units produced in 2007- but, with the high demand for trucks the volume will surpass 90 thousand units", commented Cummins' director. In March the sales of trucks totaled 9,552 units, a volume 17.02% superior to the 8,163 vehicles licensed this February. The sales of buses also showed positive results in the first quarter of the year, with a 16.36% growth. The volume of licensed vehicles leaped from 4,206 units to 4,894 units in the cumulative market until March. Including sales of cars (511,406 units) and light commercial vehicles (106,112 units) the total amount of vehicles commercialized in the Country in the first quarter was 648,163 units - twice the volume licensed in 2002, wich was 334,6 units -, and 31.42% above the 493,190 units sold in the three first months of 2007.