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31 AutoData | October 2018 BANKS, PORTS Automotive unison at a double-dose: credit increase was essential for the market growth in 2018 and the concerns with the crisis in Argentina that has the size of a cargo ship. The top three - GM, VWand Fiat, ordered by market share - ensure they have at le- ast 20 launches each for the next two to three years. In the three cases most of the novelties are for sectors like the SUVs, the fastest growing segment in the world, including Brazil, and which they expect to increase their market share with. There are many new vehicles in the process to enter the assembly lines, some in Brazil and others in Argentina, always with the objective to sell in both markets and in other countries of South America. The goal is always the same: to increase market share and, this way, reduce the idleness of the lines, which still insists on harming the final financial result. It requires customers, a lot of customers... The second good reason for maintai- ning investments is linked to Rota 2030, the new Brazilian automotive regime that the industry expects to see approved until November. Even if (until the middle of the third quarter) this approvalwas considered practically certain until an amendment emerge, in the Brazilian Chamber of De- puties, for the inclusion of regional incen- tives, mainly in the Northeast, in the same package. It seems to be a simple change, but in concrete terms it would have the potential to nearly triple the cost of the program to the government. The third good reason to keep the in- vestments is the most auspicious one and also the most connected to the audacity of bets for the biennium 2020-2021. Compared to last year’s vehicle sales, this year shows strong growth, always in the double-digit range - and up to high two digits in the case of commercial vehi- cles. However, when facedwith the record results of the beginning of the decade, this year’s numbers, especially retail, are insignificant and discouraging. It is one of those caseswhere bad news hides the good one, excellent news. Data show that only a small part of the cus- tomers who own three to five-year old cars to offer as payment already had the audacity to do it for a 0 KM. Everyone else is still waiting and represents a formidable repressed market. The excellent results of this year’s first quarter are seen as a good indication of howmuch a higher security related to the future, interruption of firings, maintenance of interest rates and greater credit supply may represent in terms of sales boost. It was no different in the truck market. Roberto Cortes, president of Volkswagen Trucks and Buses, believes that a projec-