AD_MAGAZINE_349

18 October 2018 | AutoData By Leandro Alves The dollar reachedmore than R$ 4.Was there any readjustment on imported vehicles’ prices? No. We started 2018 working at R$ 3.20 and the evolution has already reached 30% since then. The Brazilian car does not have a direct price relation with the dollar variation as the imported ones do and, this way, we hold the prices to keep us competitive. But the working capital that we need to buy the cars out of Brazil is 30% lower. So is the customer being benefited at this moment? This is the best opportunity, this year, to buy an imported car because no brand is passing on the exchange rate variation to the price. Avehicle offered today at R$ 110 thousand isworth US$ 26,5 thousand and a few months ago, with the dollar at R$ 3.40, it was US$ 32 thousand. The difference in dollars is being totally ab- sorbed by the companies. Has there been anymovement from the companies to update the stocks in these last months of 2018? FROM THE TOP » JOSÉ LUIZ GANDINI, ABEIFA WITH AN EYE ON THE MARKET. AND ON THE DOLLAR. What will be the market closure of im- ported vehicles in 2018? At the end of last year we projected a 2018 of 40 thousand units, and if we do not reach this volume we will be very close to it. Particularly, I still believe in this projected volume, even with our business being greatly impaired by the exchange in the second half. We expec- ted to reach these 40 thousand vehicles peacefully until the middle of the year, but now the conditions have deteriorated and we will need additional efforts to achieve this goal. HowdoesAbeifa estimate the exchange evolution from now until the end of the year? We work with the projections of several banks to estimate the exchange rate: some people speak of a dollar at R$ 3.50 by December, others project R$ 3.60. We (all the companies associated with Abeifa) have met and concluded that with the exchange at R$ 3.60 until the end of the year we will keep our 450 dealerships and 13.5 thousand direct jobs.