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55 AutoData | October 2018 scenario amplified by the exchange rate”. With the threat of idle capacity, the way to maintain production volumes was to increase the direct sales business - which, according to the executive, does not necessarily bring good returns on investments. “This is the daily reality faced by the automotive industry for a long time.” For him, the combination of pressure on costs and a lower price of direct sales brought to the companies a difficult combination to overcome: “Those who projected the trend for 2018 from the result obtained in the last four months of 2017 should now be using the red pen in their accounts”. The perspective is even harder with the news coming from Argentina, the main external customer of the Brazilian vehicles. Golfarb remembers that in the AutoData Congress Perspectives Closing 2019 Total market Increase of 5% to 10% GDP 2,5% GDP 1,36% 1 US$ = R$ 3,75 1 US$ = R$ 3,83 Selic (interest rate) 8% Selic (interest rate) 6,5% Inflation 4,11% Inflation 4,09% Closing 2018 Total market 2,5 million to 2 million 540 thousand Total production 3 million 21 thousand Total export 766 thousand 2018, in October 2017, he alerted for a scenario that shouldn’t repeat growth registered that year, “because Argentina is macroeconomically vulnerable”. With these conditions in the main markets of South America on the radar of the company for at least three years the losses keep happening again. The diagnosis made Ford execute adjustments in the organization of the region to transpose more efficiently this difficult period, says the executive, “We have reduced the boards and we were able to achieve high efficiency with the teams available in all areas”. This way, without presenting figures, Golfarb points out the Ford directives: “Our projections indicate sales growth, with a moderate increase in production and stability with a leaning for decline in exports. That’s our vision for 2018 and next year”.