Vehicle sales grow in July driven by rental companies and other fleet owners

With a strong share of direct sales, the registration of light and heavy vehicles registered growth in July. 182 thousand units were sold in the last month, an increase of 2.2% over June. The numbers are based on Renavan (National Registry of Motor Vehicles).

Compared to July 2021, sales grew by 3.7%. In the first seven months of 2022, however, there is an accumulated drop of 12%.

“After a catastrophic period for the industry, when we reached 12 consecutive months with lower sales compared to the same period of the previous year, July was the first month in which this result was reversed”, says Milad Kalume, business development manager at Jet Dynamics Brazil. “In this light, it was a good month.”

Although it is close to being discontinued, the Volkswagen Gol has once again become the most sold car in Brazil, something that has not happened since 2013. The compact hatchback had 9,697 units sold through direct sales, which represents 81.3% of total sales. model licensing.

In total, direct sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles represented 51.9% of registrations, according to Jato Dynamics Brasil.

Anfavea (association of automakers) will release the production numbers this Friday (5th). In relation to sales, the entity expects a stronger reaction in August, due to the reduction of the IPI (Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados).

On Saturday (30), the government issued a decree that determines a 35% reduction in the tax on manufactured goods that are not manufactured in the Manaus Free Trade Zone.

The text provides for the additional reduction of the IPI for passenger cars, which equates the benefit to the automotive sector with that granted to other industrialized products.

As a result, the tax reduction for this category of vehicles went from 18.5% to 24.75%.

“As with the March reduction, vehicles that are already in the dealership network, but have not yet been sold, can be re-invoiced with the new IPI rate, which tends to mean some relief in the price of vehicles for consumers. , depending on the commercial strategy of each manufacturer”, says a note sent by Anfavea.

In July, the automakers association revised its projections for 2022. The entity now expects the year to end with a 4.1% rise in manufacturing. Regarding sales, the expectation is for an increase of 1% over last year.

In January, Anfavea believed that 2.46 million vehicles would be produced in 2022, which would represent a growth of 9.4% compared to the previous period. In commercialization, the expectation was for a high of 8.5%.

However, even the new forecast seems far from being achieved. Milad Kalume assesses that even the improvement recorded in the last month does not indicate that sales of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles will be higher than those recorded in 2021. Last year ended with 1.97 million units registered.

“The results for now are still very weak, I believe that 1.8 million will be sold [de veículos leves]if that, in 2022”, says the manager of Jato Dynamics Brasil.

There is, in fact, more reason to believe that sales are down than up. In addition to the increase in credit due to the rise in the country’s basic interest rate, supply problems persist.

Volkswagen, for example, will give 20 days of collective vacation in August to 800 employees at the Taubaté plant (São Paulo countryside). That’s where the Gol comes from, precisely the best-selling car in July.