Expensive gasoline reduces advantage of more economical cars

The year 2022 cars are less polluting and more economical. This is an evolution determined by the seventh phase of Proconve (Vehicular Emissions Control Program), which has the force of law. But the consumer who has recently bought a brand new car will not feel all the relief expected when it comes time to fill up, and the problem lies in the price of fuel.

The Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia carried out, at the request of the Sheet, tests that compare the consumption of cars produced under the new standard with the cost of their previous versions, suitable for the sixth phase of the program. The results confirm the improvements.

The 2021 version of the Honda City sedan, for example, was able to travel 11.1 kilometers on one liter of gasoline during the Folha-Mauá test. The 2022 model, which received technologies such as direct fuel injection, recorded an urban average of 12.9 km/l.

However, the average value of a liter of gasoline went from R$6.34 to R$7.21 in the last six months, according to a monthly survey released by the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels). Ethanol, on the other hand, had its price increased from R$4.88 to R$5.13 in the same period.

In October 2021, the equivalent of R$ 0.57 per km was spent to run the “old” Honda City filled with gasoline. Today, the owner of a 2022 model spends R$0.56 per km.

If the price of the oil derivative had not been readjusted in the last six months, the cost per km of the Honda 2022 would be R$ 0.49.

The driver who drives the 2021 model saw his spending rise from R$0.57 to R$0.65 per km in the last six months.

The more you rotate, the greater the perception of highs at each stop at the gas station. App driver Wanderlei Santos, 39, records the consumption of his 2017 Ford Fiesta Sedan in spreadsheets. In April 2021, he noted an expense of R$117 when filling the tank with ethanol – the fuel gauge was in reserve. In the last week, the expense in a similar condition was R$ 237.

“Today I select the races to always run against the flow, so I don’t get too much traffic and the car consumes less”, says Santos. “I have to create these strategies, because with gasoline at R$7, it’s not possible.”

For manufacturers, it is frustrating to see the result of technical evolution lose strength in the face of rising fuel prices. Anfavea (association of automakers) calculates that R$ 12 billion were invested in adapting the cars to Proconve 7.

There were still many problems due to the lack of components and requests to extend the deadline for classification, which ended in December.

After going back and forth to Brasília, the entity obtained from Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) an extension of the period for three months to adapt new cars to the seventh stage of environmental legislation.

Therefore, the updated versions of the automobiles hit the stores along with the mega-increase in fuels, which took place in March.

While they started to assemble less polluting models, the companies followed the drop in sales. New vehicle licensing fell by 23.2% in the comparison between the first quarters of 2022 and 2021.

With 402,800 units sold, the period from January to March this year records the worst result since 2006, according to data from Fenabrave (association of vehicle distributors).

Meanwhile, the motorcycle segment registers high. The registrations in the first quarter totaled 274.7 thousand units, which corresponds to an increase of 33.7% compared to the same period last year.

“The rise in fuel prices has also led more people to look at the motorcycle as an alternative”, says, in a note, Marcos Fermanian, president of Abraciclo (association of motorcycle and bicycle manufacturers).

Atsushi Fujimoto, president of Honda South America, recalls that the price of gasoline is high not only in Brazil, but all over the world, mainly due to the effects of the war in Ukraine. In addition to scarcity concerns, several countries have stopped importing energy from Russia, which shakes up the global oil and gas landscape.

“It is not so evident that car customers are migrating to two wheels, but those who already have a car and a motorcycle at home are preferring the motorcycle to, for example, go to the market”, says Fujimoto.