Imported vehicle sales share grew in 2022

By Alzira Rodrigues | Translated by Jorge Meditsch

While the local-produced vehicle sales fell 2.1% last year, from 1,729,189 to 1,693,503 units, the imports segment grew 7.7%, from 247,921 to 266,959 registers. Therefore, the share of automobile and light commercial vehicles produced abroad grew from 12.5% to 13.6% compared to 2021.

Contrasting to the market’s numbers released by Anfavea last week, the associates with Abeifa, which represents some of the importers and local manufacturers also, had a 16.9% fall in their imports and 27.6% in local-produced vehicles.

The sales of the 11 Abeifa associates in 2022 were, respectively, 21,133 and 34,557 units, compared to 25,421 and 47,755 in 2021.

Abeifa represents extremely low-volume brands such as Aston Martin and McLaren and some local manufacturers, such as Caoa Chery, Jaguar, Land Rover and Suzuki. Also part of the association are Byd, Jac Motors, Kia, Porsche and Volvo.

From January through December last year, the only brands that grew were Aston Martin, which went from two to 24 units, Byd, from 135 to 260, Kia, from 5,042 to 5,378, Jac, from 930 to 1.234 and Porsche, from 3,088 to 3.187. Those five brands do not produce in the country.

Another brand not produced locally with an expressive growth in 2022 was Ram, part of the Stellantis group, which includes Fiat, Jeep, Peugeot and Citroën and sold nearly one-third of the light vehicles commercialized in the country. In expansion for the third consecutive year, the Ram finished 2022 with an 83% growth. It sold 5.056 units, almost twice the 2,760 sold in the previous year.

The highlight model was the Ram 3500, launched at the end of March and the brand’s top-of-the-line. This model had 2,201 registers, claiming third place in the list of best-selling premium vehicles in the country.

Anfavea’s import numbers include products from Argentina, in some cases with great importance to complement local-producing manufacturers. They include the Toyota Hilux, the Volkswagen Taos SUV and the Fiat Cronos, some of the models made in the neighboring country that are a success among Brazilian consumers.