MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Car sales in Brazil full speed ahead; 1.4 million units sold in five months

In May sales reached a record 300.541 cars

Car sales in Brazil are setting new levels almost every month and May has been no exception, with 300,940 units sold beating the previous May record of 300,514 cars (registered in 2011).

Already April of this year hit a new high for the month, of 316,985 cars sold, according to Anfavea, Brazil’s auto manufactures’ association.

For the first five months of this year, 1.40m new car registrations were issued, up 8.9% on the same period of 2012. Also production has hit 1.44m for that five-month period, up 17.2% over the same period of 2012.

A year ago, car sales were struggling and the number sold was only 13,000 units per day, prompting the government to bring in tax cuts to automakers, including reducing the IPI tax on industrialized products. That allowed the industry to reverse the negative trend at the end of last year and it has continued into this. It is understood that May dipped below April by 5.1% because last month had more public holidays (two) than April.

In related news at the end of May, 21 companies were definitively accepted into the Brazilian automotive regime. The companies are: Sportcar SP Veículos; SVB Automotores; MMC Automotores; Fiat; General Motors; British Cars; Hyundai; Agrale; Via Italia; Audi; Jaguar e Land Rover; SNS Automóveis; Ford; Chrysler; Venko Motors; Mercedes-Benz; Volvo; Renault; Toyota; Peugeot Citroen and Honda. On 5 June one more, Iveco Latin America, was also accepted.

All the companies were accepted for one year, from June first until 31 May 2014, under the benefits of the tax law. The licensing can be renewed yearly until the end of the regime in 2017.