A year ago, the ratio was 70-22. Automakers and their dealerships started 2025 with a minimum growth projection of 10% to 15%. This represents a year-over-year growth of 103.4% and, according to data from the entity, the best figure for the month in the last seven years.
In the dissemination of the data, which Acara communicated late Friday, when registrations closed, it crowned a week of good news for the automotive market, after Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced eliminations and cuts in taxes affecting the sale of cars on Tuesday.
"This is the best start to the year since 2018, the year in which 116,300 units were registered in January," Acara celebrated. Last year, the car market fell by 7.9% to 414,041 registrations, Acara reported a month ago. Nevertheless, it confirms the upward trend that the market has recorded in recent months, driven by exchange rate stability, declining inflation, lower interest rates, and a greater supply of products due to the removal of restrictions for importing cars and inputs.
A sign of this is that, of the nearly 70,000 registrations in January, 47% were nationally produced cars, and 44% were Brazilian. Especially because the tax changes - which were just published this Friday in the Official Bulletin, hence did not impact January's sales - are already reflected in price reductions.
"2025 begins with two great news for our activity: the good momentum of January and prices retracting, which will boost a market that is starting to show an active demand that will accompany us in the coming months," said Sebastián Beato, president of Acara. The dealer chief expressed, "hopefully, the provinces will also imitate this kind of measure" regarding the tax cuts implemented by the National Government.
By brand, Volkswagen started leading with 11,537 registrations, a 17.5% market share. Following were Toyota with 10,429 units (15.9%) and Fiat with 9,319 (14.2%). By model, the best-selling were Peugeot 208 (5,258 units), Fiat Cronos (4,284 units), Volkswagen Amarok (3,664), Ford Ranger (3,634), Toyota Hilux (3,418), Toyota Corolla Cross (2,644), VW Polo (2,434), Peugeot 2008 (2,261), Toyota Yaris (2,029), and Chevrolet Tracker (2,018).
In January 2024, the market was virtually paralyzed due to lack of pricing, due to the time taken by the then-new Government to update the internal tax on automobiles. In January, 68,988 new cars were sold, reported the Association of Automotive Dealers of the Argentine Republic (Acara). Prices had reportedly risen by more than 150 percent.
Therefore, the 103% growth of January-25 is against an extraordinarily low comparison base. During the second half, there was a recovery that allowed the cut in the drop with which it had started 2024, close to 30% in the first quarter. This initial retraction that the sector faced at the start of last year explains a good part of the over 100% jump this month.
The main objective is to reach 500,000 domestic sales units. The tax reduction encourages upward adjustments to that projection.
