Motor

Brazil auto sales up, but output down in 2012

Auto sales in Brazil rose 4.9 percent in 2012 compared with the previous year but production fell 1.5 percent, the first decline in the past 10 years, industry data showed.

"In general it was a positive year although we experienced many difficulties.

The sector showed major growth, undoubtedly with lower profitability but with prospects of continued growth next year," said Cledorvino Bellini, president of the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA).

He told a press conference that sales got a boost from measures adopted by the government to stimulate sluggish economic growth, including a reduction of taxes on industrialized goods.

Brazil boasts the world's fourth largest car market after the United States, China and Japan.

Meanwhile the Central Bank has cut its inter-bank lending rates to boost growth and consumption in this country of 194 million.

ANFAVEA said 3.8 million units were sold this year, up from 3.6 million in 2011 while production was projected to fall from 3.4 million last year to 3.3 million in 2012.

Bellini explained the decline saying Brazil's production is for both the domestic market, which rose, and for exports, which failed to expand.

AFP

British new car sales climb in November: industry data

Japans auto giant Nissan Motor chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga introduces the new sedan “Sylphy” at the companys headquarters in Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on December 5, 2012. The Sylhy, equipped with a 1.8-litre engine with CVT transmission to drive fron wheels, will be sold in approximately 120 countries in the world. AFP

Sales of new cars in Britain jumped in November compared with the same month of the previous year, boosted by private sales and despite the challenging economic backdrop, industry figures showed.

The number of new car registrations last month rallied 11.3 percent to 149,191 vehicles, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said in a statement.

"This upward trend has been driven by private retail customers," said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt in a statement. "The outlook for 2013 remains challenging, but vehicle manufacturers and their dealers will continue to work hard to attract motorists to their showrooms and deliver outstanding value." Total car sales for the first 11 months of the year increased by 5.4 percent to 1.92 million units. The SMMT added that Britain was now the second-largest new car market in the European Union, positioned ahead of France and after Germany.

AFP
 

Eco campaigners bash Germany's gas-guzzling cars

Environmental campaigners have taken aim at famous German car brands such as Porsche, Audi and BMW, criticising their high CO2 emissions as well as Germany's tax system they say promotes gas guzzlers.

A symbol of industrial might exported all over the world, Germany's sports vehicles, estate cars and 4x4s also enjoy huge domestic popularity due to what one campaigner derided as an "absurd" tax incentive scheme.

"Germany has the most absurd policy in the world of incentivising polluting cars," said Patrick Huth from pressure group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid or DUH). Two-thirds of cars sold in Germany are registered to companies, although this percentage rises to 80 percent for the swankier models.

Companies can offset for tax purposes the entire price of the car and petrol without any fixed limit on carbon emissions, as there exists in other countries such as Ireland or France.

The more expensive the model, the greater the fiscal incentive for companies and in a country where cars are often seen as a status symbol, firms offer employees luxury vehicles to attract talent.

"Companies order heavy vehicles with high fuel consumption because image is more important to them than the fight against climate change," complained Sigrid Totz from NGO Greenpeace.

"This tax law ensures the German auto industry has a domestic market for its premium brands," added Totz.

The DUH group has calculated that the tax regime on cars owned by individuals is also one of the least strict in terms of carbon emissions in Europe.

And Huth criticised Germany's famously speed limit-free motorways, "the only case in the industrialised world" as an "incentive to buy souped-up vehicles." Statistics appear to back up the campaigners' argument. Germany routinely finds itself bottom of the class when it comes to the CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the country.

Over the first seven months of 2012, cars sold in Denmark and Portugal spewed out on average less than 120 grammes of CO2 per kilometre travelled while in Germany, this was over 140 grammes, according to manufacturers' data.

Nevertheless, the top companies are striving to improve the situation, said Matthias Wissmann, from the VDA association which represents the Germany auto industry.

"Since 2006, the German brands have cut their average (fuel) consumption by 20 percent" thanks mainly to billions of euros invested in improving motor efficiency, Wissmann said.

And Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer, an expert from the CAR-Centre for Automotive Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, said environmentalists should not necessarily point the finger at the top brands.

"Premium German carmakers have made more progress than lower range manufacturers," he told AFP, adding that many top-of-the-range vehicles have similar emissions to less modern and less expensive cars.

AFP