Who said Brazilians are wary of imports? According to Brazilian car site bestcars.com.br, sales of imported cars rose a whopping 190 percent in April compared to the same month last year. The Brazilian Association of Importing Cars Companies – Abeiva – reports that in the first four moths of the year, a record 26,708 imported cars were registered in Brazil. 17.9 percent of cars sold in April were imported.
Abeiva, which counts among its members the likes of Aston Martin, BMW, Jaguar, not to mention Dodge and assorted Chinese companies, celebrated this result saying that their associates guarantee jobs for Brazilians. They better do a good job of convincing people, as there are many out there worried that this level of importation is bad for the economy. If this keeps up, we will hear a faint drumbeat in Brasilia to take “corrective” measures. Hush, don’t tell them that that import craze is a Japanese invention.
Tagged as Brazil, Imports, Marcelo de Vasconcellos, Sales
Marcelo, imports DO actually generate jobs: dealerships, after sales, headquarters require people.
The government will also have to increase their manpower due to increased workload.
And it’s also good for the “domestics” to have some competition.
What is very bad is what Mr. Chavez did here. Many of the importers have reduced their operations to the bare minimum (if they haven’t closed) and the assemblers reduced their CKD operations to 2-3 models to take advantage of the importing. Conclusion, we have less models to choose and prices are sky high.
Be careful with what you ask for. Or Brasilia.
Hola Stingray!
When I wrote this, I tried to write it as neutrally as possible, since I really didn’t mean to get into anything political. And when I wrote about drumbeats in Brasilia I tried to be a little ironic, so that the reader would be able to discern my opinion on this.
In sum, I totally agree with you. Though the Brazilian left would surely love to close all imports. And it’s crazy ‘ cause besides the political/economic argument, they use a “moral” one. In other words, most cars imported into Brazil are high-end. And cost a great deal more than anything produced locally.SO they say it’s not a good idea to let “rich” people enjoy their toys and bleed the economy.
Sometimes our Catholic heritage really shows…