Brazil’s Car Sales Drop 8%

Sales of cars, trucks and buses slid to 288,200 units in September compared with 311,600 units a year earlier, automaker group ANFAVEA reports. Passenger vehicle demand fell 5% to 214,400 units.

Fiat remained Brazil's top-selling carmaker with 54,800 vehicles (-2%) followed by Volkswagen (+4% to 52,000 units), General Motors (-14% to 38,700 units), Ford (-8% to 18,500 units) and Renault (-16% to 14,200 units).

September sales of light commercial vehicles in the country dropped 6% to 63,300 units for light vehicles and plunged 43% to 8,500 units for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Bus volume plummeted 40% to 1,900 units.

In the first nine months of 2012, total vehicle sales in Brazil rose 4% to 2.8 million units, ANFAVEA says.