General Motors said it expects its sales in Brazil to grow by 68% to 1m vehicles a year by 2014 as consumers grow richer and the currency gains in strength.
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Jaime Ardila, head of GM South America, told Bloomberg News that Brazil will make a “significant contribution to the company’s profits” in the next few years.
GM predicts Chevrolet sales in the country will rise to 650,000 vehicles this year from almost 600,000 in 2009 and increase to 1m in 2014 when total vehicle sales are expected to exceed 4m.
The carmaker is investing more than US$2.8bn in Brazil to the end of 2012 at its two production facilities in Sao Paolo.
GM is the third largest automaker in Brazil by sales after Volkswagen and Fiat. It boosted its market share to 21.1% in May from 20.8% a year earlier, according to the national vehicle manufacturers’ association. VW’s share fell to 25.4% from 26.2% and Fiat’s declined to 23.9% from 26%.
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By GlobalDataBrazil accounts for 10% of GM’s global sales volume and the carmaker has made a profit in the country for five years. Ardila said that rising income and favourable loan conditions are helping the company accelerate growth.
Average auto loan maturities in Brazil have risen to 45 months from 31 months five years ago and interest rates have dropped to about 31% from 36% while the country has 110m people with the potential to buy a new or used vehicle, he added.
Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC countries, represent the fastest growth prospect for GM and will make up about 25% of the company’s auto sales this year, Ardila said. In China, the carmaker aims to increase sales to 2m units this year from 1.83m in 2009.
Ardila said: “The fastest-growing markets for GM globally will continue to be Brazil and China over the next five years. We’ll probably grow very fast in India as well because that market is only just starting to grow. The potential there is huge.”
