MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Car sales in Brazil affected by pro-Bolsonaro demonstrations

Roadblocks have been detrimental to the distribution of unused cars to dealers nationwide, de Leite explained

Brazil's National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea) has reported this week that sales of brand-new cars fell in the past few days as demonstrators took to the streets in several cities nationwide claiming that incumbent President Jair Boolsonaro had defeated Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva in the Oct. 30 runoffs, thus contradicting the announcement by the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).

Supporters of the current head of state insisted Lula had won through fraud even though the Bolsonaro administration has agreed to start the transition process with Vice-President-elect Geraldo Alckmin. Bolsonaro himself urged his followers to lift all roadblocks on the grounds that the right to protest should not prevail over the people's right to come and go freely.

Anfavea said Tuesday that the roadblocks had been detrimental to the distribution of unused cars to dealers nationwide while preventing workers from attending the plants.

According to Anfavea's assessment, between 6,000 and 9,000 cars could not be produced or sold because of the demonstrations. Anfavea President Márcio de Lima Leite said that had it not been for the demonstrations and the Our Lady of Aparecida holiday, October's production could have reached all-time highs. Registrations of new vehicles fell to 9,000 in October from September's 17,000, Anfavea reported.

“Had we maintained the normal pace of production, we would have broken the record for the year in October. Production is difficult to recover because it has the limit of the hours worked, it has the natural limitation,” Leite argued. He also pointed out that deliveries returned to normal once the demonstrations subsided.

The supply crisis of electronic components, caused by the shortage of semiconductors in the world, is still the industry's biggest challenge, leading to stoppages of a few hours in three factories last month, although the current situation is “less critical and chaotic,” Leite explained.

According to Leite, sales peak on the last day of each month, but not in October, due to the blockades. On the last business day of September, 17,000 units were sold.

Anfavea data also showed that vehicle production in October advanced 15.1% interannually, from 178,965 units to 206,044, although it represented a 0.8% decrease from September's figures. So far this year, growth has been 7.1%, with over 1.9 million units manufactured.

Comparing October 2022 and October 2021, there was an 11.4 % increase in vehicle sales, with 180,900 vehicles sold, against 162,300 in the same period last year. Compared to September this year (194,000 units), sales fell 6.7%.

Vehicle exports in October grew 43.5 %, with 42,765 units shipped abroad, particularly to Chile and Mexico, de Lima also noted. In the first three quarters of the year, 406,268 units were shipped abroad, 32.4 % more than in the same period of 2021.