According to the national automobile manufacturers' association Anfavea, a total of 3.45 million vehicles will be sold by the end of 2010, which puts the country firmly in the fourth spot. That would position Brazil behind China, the United States and Japan in sales of cars and light trucks, and just ahead of Germany.
Cledorvino Belini, the president of the association said that the low density of vehicles per inhabitant in the country (currently about 1 vehicle per 7 residents) is one of the major attractions for companies to start setting up shops on Brazilian soil. While the country's population is 192 million, to date there are only about 30 million vehicles there. The Brazilian is attractive to investors because of its growing economy and the potential in vehicle purchase in the near future, while Europe and the United States are viewed as more saturated markets.
Brazil "is a market that should keep growing over coming years, and that is attracting a lot of investment," said Anfavea president Cledorvino Belini, who is also the head of the Brazilian subsidiary for Italy's Fiat. The company last week announced it was building a second factory in the country, as part of a plan to keep the maker in the number one spot on the Brazilian market, where it accounts for 23.1 percent of total sales. Germany's Volkswagen is a close second with 22.7 percent, and US group General Motors is in third place with 21.2 percent, according to the national car dealers' federation.
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