AD_MAGAZINE_349

30 October 2018 | AutoData PERSPECTIVES 2019 » OVERVIEW There is a common reasoning inside the automotive sector to point the next government as pro-reform independent of the one chosen to be the President of Brazil. recommends certain prudence and a good dose of caution: stick with the basic. Ro- gelio Golfarb, Ford’s vice president, points out that part of the sales realized in the last months, in August and even in Septem- ber, are artificial and do not represent an effective market. They are derived from a business model with strong support in direct sales, especially for car rental com- panies, generally with large and unusual discounts. Explanation: Surprised by the decline of domestic sales in the second trimester, and the reduction of exports to Argentina at the beginning of this second half, some automakers chose to use the direct sales as a way to avoid an even higher increase of the idleness index that, in general, they still operate today. As a result, in little time the direct sales, sometimes with discounts in the range of up to 35% to 40%, started to represent half of the total sales. This index is at least 10 to 15 percentage points higher than what could be considered normal. The numbers vary from company to company, and quite a lot. In August, the direct marketing of at least one of themost traditional automakers surpassed, the ne- ver reached before, 60%, while the more conservative Asian companies opted to stay below 25%. In practice, this ends up by distorting, every month, not only the real size of the market but also the market share rankings, by models or brands as well. THREE GOOD REASONS Even with so many doubts and uncer- tainties the investments are maintained and in some cases they even increase: the most recent announcement was from Toyota, no less than R$ 1 billion for its fac- tory in Indaiatuba. There are at least three good and con- crete reasons for this: the first is the normal cycle of product lines renovation, which tends to accentuate in times like this cur- rent present, when factories operate idle.