São Paulo – The production of auto vehicles dropped 28.9% in February in comparison to the same month of last year, according to a balance sheet of the Brazilian Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea) released this Thursday (5th) in São Paulo. In February 2015, 200,100 units were manufactured. In comparison to January, it’s a decline of 2.3%. Year-to-date, 404,900 vehicles were manufactured, 22% less than the same period of last year.
“The production in February reflects directly the performance of the domestic market, as well as the exports, and shows a strong need for inventory adjustment. We’re back to the same production of 2009”, emphasized Anfavea’s president, Luiz Moan.
The number of licensed vehicles dropped 28.3% over February 2014, with the sales of 185,900 vehicles in February 2015. Compared to January, there’s a decline of 26.7%. In the first two months of 2015, sales add up to 439,750 units, 23.1% less than the same period in 2014.
"The number of licensed vehicles dropped sharply and one of the reasons is that Carnival was in February, wherein last year was in March. There’s also the effect felt by the increase of the Tax over Industrialized Products (IPI, in the Portuguese acronym) and the loss of trust by the consumers due to the many adjustments carried out by the government”, explained Moan.
Exports dropped 7.2% year-to-date, in comparison to the first two months of 2014, with 47,568 units sold. In February 2015, however, the sector registered an increase of 9.2% over the same month of 2014 and of 91.8% in comparison to January. “We’re still feeling the effects of the drop in exports to Argentina, whose market is in decline, so it reflects on us.”
In February, 142,314 were employed by the auto sector, a drop of 1.3% over January (144,163). In the comparison to February of last year, there’s a drop of 8.8¨. “Our employee is highly qualified and the last thing the companies want is to lose these workers. That’s why we made a huge effort to keep this qualified posts”, said Moan.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
