* Brazil’s national federation of automobile dealers (Fenabrave) has released figures on the sector’s performance for the first quarter of 2023, which showed that 471,626 registration plates had been issued, a proxy for car sales. This marks a 16.3% increase on the same quarter in 2022. In monthly terms car sales increased in March, with 198,909 plates issued, up from the 129,900 issued in February. However, Fenabrave downplayed the year-on-year increase, stating that figures remain distorted by the impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which caused sales to slump in 2022. It noted that car sales have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with 609,000 cars sold in the first quarter of 2019. Fenabrave’s president, José Maurício Andreta Júnior, stated the 2023 would be “challenging” due to a range of factors restricting consumer demand, such as high levels of debt for families, increased rates of defaults, and high interest rates.
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