© Reuters
(Text updated with more information from the 4th paragraph)
By Beatriz Garcia
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Licenses for cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses in Brazil in March rose 53% over February, to 198,900 units, advancing 35.5% over the same month of 2022, according to data released in this Tuesday by the dealer association, Fenabrave.
In the first quarter, sales rose 16.3% to 471,600 units, according to the data.
In March, only the truck segment had a negative performance in the annual comparison, retreating 7.3%, to 9,389 vehicles.
Sales of cars and light commercial vehicles — pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans — rose by almost 56% in the monthly comparison and 38.3% in the annual comparison in March, to 186.5 thousand units, according to data from the entity. In the first quarter, the segment recorded an evolution of 16.6% over a year earlier.
The data was released at a time when some automakers in the country gave collective vacations to production workers citing problems such as a lack of components and lower demand.
The president of Fenabrave, José Andreta Jr., stated that the main reason for the growth was weaker comparison bases both in the month and in the year. The drop in truck registrations was due to the transition from standard “Euro 5” to “Euro 6” vehicles. These standards regulate the emission of pollutants.
“The weak performance of the first quarter of 2022 distorts the result of 2023. In view of the drop of more than 23% in registrations of cars, light vehicles, trucks and buses registered in the first three months of 2022, the growth of 16.3% does not reflects the reality of the market, we need to compare it with 2019, before the pandemic”, said Andreta Jr.
In March 2019, licenses for cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks and buses totaled 209.1 thousand units.
“I hope it returns to 2019 levels, or one day we return to 2012,” said Andreta referring to the peak of the industry, when a record 3.8 million new vehicles were sold in Brazil.
In January, Fenabrave predicted virtually stable sales in 2023, at 2.1 million vehicles. Andreta Jr. stated that the entity will maintain the projection for the time being, while observing the developments around the new fiscal framework on the economy.