Truck and bus sales drive the automotive market
The trade of the two types of vehicles surpass in 26% that registered in the first quarter of 2010, according to Fenabrave.
The vehicle sales in the first quarter of the year registered a new record in the country. And much of that is mainly owed to the truck and bus trade, which remained at an accelerated pace and registered the biggest booms out of all segments: 26.92% and 25.03%, respectively.
Considering the sales in March alone, 14,488 trucks and 2,925 buses were commercialized, 7.63% and 1% increases in relation to the same month in 2010. On the other hand, cars and motorcycles registered falls (-18.63% and -1.86%).
In the year accrued, the car and light commercial vehicles segments had a 3.63% increase in relation to the first quarter of last year (777,725 units). The motorcycles, on their turn, grew 8.12% (438,647 sold) in equal period.
“The agribusiness, especially in the southern region, is warming-up, with a nice crop, and this stimulates the transportation segment a great deal. Added to this, there is the willingness to renew the fleet, there are financings, and businessmen are buying trucks. But this does not solve the problem, as today we are facing the issue of lack of qualified labor and an infrastructure not fitting reality”, said the Director of the Cargo Road Transportation Section of the State of Paraná (Fetranspar), Luiz Anselmo Trombini.
However, still according to him, the Pro-trucker program interest rate increase announced last month by BNDES must slow sales down. “Some people who do not work in the area ended-up buying trucks due to the facilities, and now this must decrease”, he pointed out.
Market share
The truck sales leadership in the month appertained Volkswagen once again (30.93% of the market), followed by Mercedes Benz (23.38%), Ford (17.15%), Volvo (11.42%), Scania (8.34%), Iveco (7.8%), and others (0.99%).
In the bus segment, Mercedes Benz had the highest market share in the month, with 45.23%. Just behind there were Volkswagen (33.09%), Marcopolo (12.85%), Iveco (3.38%), Scania (2.39%), Agrale (2.26%), others (0.79%).
Total vehicles
Altogether, 825,206 vehicles were sold in Brazil this year, a 4.7% increase over data from the same period of 2010, when 788,010 vehicles left dealerships.
Nevertheless, in March, the total sales fell in comparison with the same month last year: 306,171 against 353,741, which represents a 13.45% reduction. According to Federação Nacional da Distribuição de Veículos Automotores (Fenabrave), March 2010 registered a large number of sales, as it was the last year with IPI (Industrialized Products Tax) discount in the units value. The Carnival celebration also contributed for last month's retraction, which negatively influences the results.
Source: http://www.cnt.org.br/ - 05/04/2011 – Economy and Businesses