Q1 vehicle exports grow 7.6% YoY

ANFAVEA (the national association of automotive vehicle manufacturers reports that the first quarter of 2021 ended with low vehicle sales. The 527,900 licensed units dropped 5.4% compared to the same period in 2020. But what is the most worrisome, according to the association, is the 23% retraction in relation to the last quarter of last year, slowing the recovery that had begun in the middle of 2020. Traditionally, this drop was only 15%. The comparison between March of this year and last year brings an illusory growth of 15.7%. But keep in mind that the market stopped almost entirely in the middle of March 2020 due to the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

Production in the first quarter registered 597,800 units, 197,000 of them in March, the best month of the year. This was 2% higher than in the first quarter of 2020, primarily driven by the excellent results of trucks and light commercial vehicle sales. Despite the shutdown of some factories in the last week of the month due to lack of inputs or early holidays due to the worsening of the pandemic, several automakers managed to complete units that were stopped in the yards with some parts missing.

The best result for the quarter was the export of 95,800 units, 7.6% more than at the beginning of 2020. The inventory of vehicles in factories and concessionaires remains stable at a low level, at 101,100 units.

For the next quarter, we can expect a painful crossing until improvement in the second half of the year. “We have three points of great concern,” warns Luiz Carlos Moraes, president of ANFAVEA. One point is the alarming situation of the pandemic in the country, which should only stabilize in the medium term with the acceleration of vaccination. The second point is the set of economic fundamentals, threatened not only by the pandemic but also by the excess of political noise. Finally, we have some bottlenecks in the production, especially of electronic components, a global problem that we have no control over and that should last throughout the year”, enumerates Moraes. For the leader, the moment has come to call on all spheres of power to take responsibility for the vaccination effort and to control public accounts. The release of reformist agendas in the National Congress can also help reduce the cost of doing business in Brazil.

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