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69 AutoData | October 2018 the future. Customers have gone back to the stores, default has fallen and the banks are financing. I believe we have total conditions to maintain the growth of 14% that we projected until December.” If everything goes well, therefore, the Brazilian market will close 2018 at around 2 million 450 thousand vehicles sold and with production of more than 3 million units. Volkswagen (at the moment of deep renewal of its vehicle portfolio) will see its sales increase around 34% this year. In terms of production the company calculates that it will grow 10% in vehicles and 60% in engines. The president of Volkswagen foresees growth of 5% to 8% for the Brazilian market for 2019, with sales reaching 2 million 650 thousand - Di Si emphasizes that this projection involves a scenario of political and economic balance. In total production, he estimates an increase from 12% to 18%, being possible to reach, consequently, 3.6 million units. Regarding Argentina, the VW executive says that the fiscal adjustment currently undertaken by the local government will only show positive results in 2020 and that, due to this, its automotive market will decrease by 20% this year, to nearly 800 thousand units. For 2019, he is waiting for another Closing 2019 Total market Increase from 5% to 8% Total production Increase from 12% to 18% decrease without, however, projecting an index. “Since most of the production is exported from our factory in Pacheco, the domestic market decrease will not influence our final production forecast there, which will also be positive. About 60% of Argentine vehicles are exported, an index that reaches 95% in the case of the transmissions that we also manufacture there.” Di Si drew attention to the fact that the market share of Brazilian and Argentine vehicles is growing in the other Latin American countries. He foresaw that from 2020 on the region (as a whole) will account for about 5 million units sales annually: 3 million in Brazil, 1 million in Argentina and 1 million in other countries in the region, except Mexico. We can adapt rapidly to any situation, but we don’t have many reasons to doubt about the future. Pablo Di Si