Brazil motor vehicle sales declined on the month in January, but still managed to rise in comparison to the same period last year, indicating Brazil could be on its way to another banner year in car sales.
Month over month vehicle sales dropped 27.2% to 213,312 vehicles in January, but rose 8% compared with January 2009, the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, Anfavea, said on Thursday.
Last year, Brazil sold a record 3.1 million vehicles and expectations are for even greater sales this year, according to Anfavea President Jackson Schneider. That January 2010's sales beat January 2009 sales means Brazil is off to a good start.
Production dropped 3.7% compared with December, but rose 31.6% on the year to 243,425 units.
Exports dropped on the month by 17.7%, but also swung considerably from January 2009 exports. Exports rose 65.9% on the year to $724.9 million. Last year, exports dragged down overall sales, according to Anfavea. The market started coming back slowly in late October, Schneider said at the end of the year.
Fiat SPA (F.MI, FIATY) was the market leader in January, selling 36,979 vehicles, up 0.4% on the year, but down 32.1% from December. General Motors beat Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE, VLKAY) for the first time in over a year, selling 36,525 vehicles in January, an increase of 11.2% from the same period last year.
Volkswagen sold 33,910 vehicles in January, down 34.7% from December and down 10.6% on the year.
-By Kenneth Rapoza, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-8812-5961; kenneth.rapoza@dowjones.com
(Rogerio Jelmayer contributed to this article.)