MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil records brand new car sales recovery in first half of 2017

Brazil has been a traditional top-10 global market for cars.

The sale of brand new cars in Mercosur giant Brazil went up 3.65 percent in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period of 2016 and crossing the psychologically significant 1-million-unit mark, according to auto industry sources. Brazil has been a traditional top-10 global market for cars.

 The National Federation of Automotive Vehicle Distribution reported 1,019,400 new cars and light passenger vehicles went onto the streets sold from January to June, compared to only 983,495 units in the first half of the previous year.

Car dealers expect to sell a total of 2,129,165 vehicles in 2017, for a 3.8-percent increase year-on-year, after four years of failing results.

But when it came down to heavy transport vehicles, such as lorries and buses, the numbers dropped 13.8 percent.

The interest shown by Brazilian customers in small vehicles led Daihatsu Motors to launch a line of compact cars in Brazil, as parent company Toyota Motor Corp looks to its mini car subsidiary to help it expand in emerging markets and produce lower-cost,quality vehicles, it was announced in Tokyo.

Toyota has a market share of about 9 percent in Brazil,where it sells the Etios subcompact hatchback and the Corolla and Camry sedans, along with SUVs and trucks. Any expansion there will see it come up against market leaders FCA,General Motors Co, and Volkswagen AG.