Brazil In May: Sales Slide 9.66 Percent. Or Gain 1.64

Marcelo de Vasconcellos
by Marcelo de Vasconcellos

The first numbers are out for May. Sales of new cars dropped 9.66 percent in relation to April. Why? This is the first month in which the full effect of the end of the incentive program was felt. Many dealers however kept up incentive pricing avoiding the 20% drop I had predicted. All is not lost though.

The Brazilians have not forsaken their cars. Comparing May 2010 to May 2009, there was actually a gain of 1.64 percent! For the first five months, Brazilian car sales were 1,316,824 vehicles, up 14.26 percent over the same period in 2009, reports Brazil’s second largest newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, citing Fenabrave (Brazilian Distributors Federation). So, the year is still on track for setting the best-ever sales record.

The first numbers for May also reveal some surprises in terms of brands. Fiat still tops the charts at 23.31 percent, with VW right behind them at 23.02 percent of the market. It seems like the new Uno is still not gaining conquest sales from VeeDub. General Motors dropped slightly to a 19.74 percent share, while Ford had a bad month with a participation of only 8.48 percent (the new old Fiesta is, for now, a flop).

Hyundai though is creating quite a stir. They leap-frogged Renault, Toyota, Honda and the PSA twin and captured fifth place! In numbers, they got 3.72 percent of total sales.

As for the first five months of the year, no changes yet, though Hyundai’s strong showing in May means that the fifth spot will be hotly contested. Maybe even Ford will feel the heat. Anyway, Fiat leads by a hair with 22.54 percent, Volkswagen is breathing down their necks with 20.94 percent, and General Motors seems stuck in third with 20.28 percent. Ford is far from the leaders at 10.39 percent while Renault is holding on for dear life at fifth with 4.39 percent.

Marcelo de Vasconcellos
Marcelo de Vasconcellos

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  • Stingray Stingray on Jun 03, 2010

    AFAIK Honda and Toyota have factories there. I don't know if Hyundai, but if they're climbing the charts, it is possible. Toyota also has a factory in Argentina, and Honda in working on one. If I'm not wrong, those cars can enter Brazil without high tariffs due to Mercosur agreements. Of course, it's Marcelo who should confirm or correct. Glad to read from you again.

    • See 2 previous
    • Marcelo de Vasconcellos Marcelo de Vasconcellos on Jun 03, 2010

      Chery, aqgain, as far as I know, is doing the rounds, romancinzing the various governments (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay not to mention Brazilian state governments, who also have the financial werewithal) to see who gives them more. As to a CKD line in Uruguay, they may as well have one. I did hear of something like that. Don't know if they went ahead with it thoug, as both Argentina and Brazil strongly oppose this kind of assembly in Mercosur. Uruguay accepts it, but must resist the pressure from its (much) stronger partners.

  • Marcosbarauskas Marcosbarauskas on Jun 06, 2010

    There's also Nissan, which makes Frontier trucks and Livinas in Parana, along with Renault.

  • Mikey My late wife loved Mustangs ..We alway rented one while travelling . GM blood vetoed me purchasing one . 3 years after retirement bought an 08 rag top, followed by a 15 EB Hard top, In 18 i bought a low low mileage 05 GT rag with a stick.. The car had not been properly stored. That led to rodent issues !! Electrical nightmare. Lots of bucks !! The stick wasn't kind to my aging knees.. The 05 went to a long term dedicated Mustang guy. He loves it .. Today my garage tenant is a sweet 19 Camaro RS rag 6yl Auto. I just might take it out of hibernation this weekend. The Mustang will always hold a place in my heart.. Kudos to Ford for keeping it alive . I refuse to refer to the fake one by that storied name .
  • Ajla On the Mach-E, I still don't like it but my understanding is that it helps allow Ford to continue offering a V8 in the Mustang and F-150. Considering Dodge and Ram jumped off a cliff into 6-cylinder land there's probably some credibility to that story.
  • Ajla If I was Ford I would just troll Stellantis at all times.
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
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