Fiat Automóveis saw 44,980 vehicles registered in Brazil during February, a growth of 3.9 percent in comparison with January, and above the average rise of the total new vehicle market, which grew by 0.9 percent. With this result, Fiat Automóveis however remains the leader of car and light commercial vehicle sales for the year after the first two months with 88,292 units registered which represents a market share of 23.1 percent.

Despite the market's growth compared to January, Fiat’s performance compared to the same period last year represented a sales drop of 11 percent. However, the comparison between the first two months of 2009 in relation to the last two months of 2008 (November/December), shows that the market is recovering. Fiat’s growth of sales during that period was a pleasing 6 percent.

The rise in Brazilain new vehicle sales has come about thanks to temporary financial incentives that have helped to kick started the market. The IPI industrial tax has been cut although this is only a temporary measure, it will return in April. Brazil, like most global new vehicle markets, has seen demand slowing down dramatically in recent months as the easy supply of credit to customers has dried up.

According to Brazil's National Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, Anfavea, new registrations in February were 199,366 units, up almost 1 percent on the previous month, but down 0.7 percent on the same month a year ago when credit was much easier to obtain. Sales so far this year stand at 396,820 units which is down 4.6 percent. Domestic vehicle production, which has been sharply cut in recent months by the market's biggest three carmakers (Fiat, VW and GM), was 201,685 units last month, meaning it had climbed by 9.2 percent on January and manufacturers began turning out more cars to take advantage of renewed customer interest thanks to the new incentives and sharp discounting in the dealers. Total production after the first two months of the year is 386,450 units. Vehicle exports rose 27.1 pct to US$ 528.8 million last month, bouncing back after a sharp decline, but they were still down 49.2 pct compared to the same month last year. After the first two months of this year exports are down 53.8 percent to US$ 962.7 million.

by Claudio Perlini