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20 September 2018 | AutoData EVENT » CAXIAS DO SUL AD SEMINAR I f the sky is not totally blue for the au- tomotive sector’s supplier industry in Caxias do Sul, RS, at least the mist has dissipated and the airport runway al- ready offers good visibility for landings and take-offs. The nearly two hundred participants of the AutoData Commercial Vehicles Forum organized by AutoData at the CIC headquarters (CIC headquar- ters, Chamber of Industry, Commerce and Services), left the event with optimistic perspectives for the future of the segment, pulled by the recovery of the numbers regarding production and sales of trucks and buses. Of the 18,5 thousand jobs closed in the sector since 2014, when the crisis boomed, 4 thousand jobs were recovered this year, according to data from Simecs, the Me- tallurgical, Mechanical and Electrical Mate- rial Trade Union of Caxias do Sul. Anyway, many qualified workers ended up leaving the region or incorporating other sectors. The industry’s income, which fell 43.5% from 2014 to 2016, closed last year with an By André Barros Recovery of the sales of trucks and buses helps pull the industry of Caxias do Sul, showed an event realized by AutoData in the Serra Gaúcha region increase of 8.5% over 2016. The expectation is to reach R$ 14 billion this year, a 9.5% in- crease in comparisonwith 2017 - but still far below the R$ 20.9 billion of the golden age. The ones that pull this growth are the manufacturers of trucks and bus chassis. Volvo and Iveco have their order books full until the end of the year - anyone looking for a truck (now) will only receive it next year. Regarding the buses, the expecta- tion is for the São Paulo’s bidding, which promises a wide renovation, but (for now) is barred by the Public Prosecutor. Another good news was taken by An- favea: its communications director, Fred Carvalho, showed on a lecture exclusive numbers about the average age of the commercial vehicles fleet, which gets ol- der year by year. In 2011, the vehicles that circulated on the streets and Brazilian roa- dswere, on average, 13.1 year-old-vehicles, while in this 2018 the average age rose to 15.8 year-old. The trend, therefore, is for renovation because older trucks on the street bring less profitability. Julio Soares