Vehicle sales have a timid recovery in October

Driven by the license plate of passenger cars, sales of light and heavy vehicles increased by 4.71% between the months of September and October. The data was released on Thursday (4) by Fenabrave (the association that brings together vehicle distributors).

According to the entity, 162,365 units were sold. “The license plates of all automotive segments have been fluctuating, according to the production flow. Demand remains high on the part of the consumer, but there are segments in which the wait for a vehicle can take months due to low inventories”, he says , in a note, Alarico Assumpção Júnior, president of Fenabrave.

The executive claims that dealerships have been placing orders with factories, but are unable to receive all the cars requested due to the lack of inputs and components.

In the accumulated result for the year, there is an increase of 9.46% compared to the same period in 2020. 1.74 million light and heavy vehicles were licensed between January and October.

The number is below all forecasts made at the beginning of the year, when something close to 2 million units was expected to be sold at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The daily average of licenses was 8,117 units last month, according to Renavan (National Register of Automotive Vehicles), which represents an increase of 9.9% over September.

The timid improvement registered in October is mainly due to deliveries made to retailers and also to rental companies. These are customers who were in the queue for models like the Chevrolet Onix. The General Motors compact returned to the assembly line in Gravataí (RS) after having interrupted production for about six months this year.

Passenger car licensing, which accounts for the largest share of the automotive sector, rose 9.4% in October compared to September. The segment registered 119,315 licensed units.

But stoppages on assembly lines continue to occur. General Motors will have to place 700 employees on layoffs (temporary interruption of employment contracts) at the plant in São José dos Campos (São Paulo countryside). The unit, which produces the Chevrolet S10 pickup and the Trailblazer sport utility vehicle, employs 3,800 workers.

The measure, which will be implemented next Monday (8), could be extended for five months.

Volkswagen produces in a single shift at the factory in São Bernardo do Campo (Greater São Paulo). The volume reduction took effect on Wednesday (3) and affected 1,500 employees, who went into layoffs.

The automaker had already given collective vacations to 3,000 workers in September, and the full return should take place in the second half of November.

A month ago, Fenabrave readjusted its sales projections for 2021. The entity forecasts a 4.8% increase, with 2.16 million registered units. In July, the expectation was an 11.6% growth over 2020. The data includes passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, buses and trucks.

Anfavea corrected its production expectation based on two scenarios. If there is a regularization of the supply of semiconductors, around 570 thousand vehicles should leave the factories between October and December. Thus, the year would close with 2.219 million light and heavy vehicles produced, an increase of 10% compared to 2020.

However, the more conservative view – and more likely – predicts that the difficulties will be repeated in the fourth quarter, and production will stand at 2.129 million units, an increase of 6% compared to last year.