The trend in Brazilian vehicle sales improved in December on government measures to stimulate the automotive sector.
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“The measures adopted by the government and the discounts offered by manufacturers helped to end a process of continued drops in sales,” Fenabrave President Sergio Reze told Dow Jones.
The sale of light vehicles reached 2.67m units in 2008, up 14% from 2007, said the National Motor Vehicle Distribution Federation (Fenabrave).
Brazilian automakers sold 183,919 vehicles in December compared with 166,279 units in November – a jump of 11.5%. However, December was still lower than December of 2007, when automakers sold 231,314 vehicles.
Brazilian car sales turned down in late September when banks raised interest rates and shortened term payments for new and used car loans.
The month-on-month increase in sales in December, after falls in October and November, is being attributed to government measures to help the sector, including a reduction in the Tax over Manufactured Products (IPI) and an increase in the offer of credit to automakers.
The positive results made Fenabrave revise its previous vehicle sales projection for 2009 from a year-on-year decline of 19% to an increase of 3.1%.
In December, German manufacturer Volkswagen had the largest market share of 24.6% in Brazil. Fiat ranked second, with 23.4% of the market, followed by General Motors on 16.3% and Ford on 11.7%.
Fiat had the largest market share in Brazil in 2008 with 24.6%.
The best selling model in 2008 was the Volkswagen Gol, with 285,950 units sold.
