Sales of new vehicles fell 26.16% last year in Brazil, the worst drop in five years due to the coronavirus crisis, according to figures released Tuesday by the industry. The National Federation of Motor Vehicle Distributors (Fenabrave) reports 2,058,315 million cars, trucks and buses sold last year, the lowest since 2016 (2,050,240), when the country was plunged into a historic recession . Since then, sales have been increasing year on year and Brazil had climbed to the sixth position in the world in 2019 (2,787,618).
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The largest economy in Latin America therefore sold 737,303 fewer vehicles last year, recording the worst year-on-year drop since 2015 (-26.55%). In April, at the height of the restrictions put in place to try to stem the Covid-19 pandemic, automobile production was practically at a standstill (-99% compared to March). Sales were also at half mast, before resuming in the second half of the year, which prevented an even larger annual fall.
Chevrolet (General Motors) was the best-selling brand in Brazil in 2020, followed by Volkswagen, Fiat and Hyundai. “The improvement (in the second half of the year) is due to continued low interest rates and emergency aid“, Allowances paid to the 68 million poorest Brazilians, said in a statement the president of Fenabrave, Alarico Assumpçao Junior, who forecasts a rebound of 16.6% in sales in 2021. But he admits”many uncertainties“As for a lasting recovery, in a country hit hard by a second wave of Covid-19 contamination, with more than 196,000 deaths, the second worst record after the United States.
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